James Dalton of Pittsylvania County VA and Hawkins County TN, who married Agatha Patterson, was the son of David Dalton, Jr., and Judith of Pittsylvania County VA.
Nancy Samuelson reports this relationship in her book The Dalton Gang Story. The basis for this relationship is not reported. Samuelson also indicates that another son of David and Judith was Lewis Dalton of Pittsylvania County VA who m. Mary "Polly" Kesee.
Fact 1: Documented. David Dalton, Jr., was married to Judith. This is proved by Judith's providing dower on a deed of sale from David to Bryant Ward Nowlin recorded in Pittsylvania COB 6:135.
Fact 2: Documents and Inference. David Dalton, Jr., appears to have died in 1796. He was on the 1796 tax list, and was gone from the 1797 list. Judey appeared that year.
Fact 3: Documents and Inference. David Dalton, Jr., and Judith appear to have had a son Lewis, the tithable paid by Judey, 1797.
Fact 4: Family Source. James Dalton who married Agatha Patterson had a brother Lewis who was in Hawkins County TN with James and Agatha. Elizabeth Dalton Parsons was a granddaughter of these two brothers. She reported in a 1902 letter that her maternal and paternal grandfathers were brothers. She identified these grandparents as James Dalton and Agatha Patterson and Lewis Dalton and Anna Morrison. This letter has credibility because it was written by a women about her parents and grandparents whom she had known as a child.
Fact 5: Documents and Inference. Lewis Dalton of Hawkins County TN was born in the early 1780s. The 1830 and 1840 censuses of Hawkins and Sullivan Counties TN indicate that Lewis was born in the 1780s. In the 1836 TN Tax List Lewis was exempt from the tithe. TN law at the time provided that men became exempt from tithe at age 50. Thus, Lewis was born in the early 1780s.
Fact 6: Documents and inference. Lewis Dalton, the son of David Dalton, Jr., and Judith was born in the 1770s, most likely 1777. In the years before he disappeared from the tithe list David Dalton was paying tithes for a son. According to the 1797 Pittsylvania County VA tithe list, Judey Dalton paid the tithe of Lewis Dalton. A Lewis Dalton was responsible for his own tithe in 1798, Judey no longer paid any tithe. Under Virginia law at the time, this would mean that Lewis turned 21 in 1798, and thus his birth was 1777. (This Lewis appears to be the Lewis who married Mary "Polly" Kesee in 1797 and remained in Pittsylvania County. This birth year is consistent with the 1820 and 1830 census, but the 1840 census indicated Lewis was born in the decade of the 1780s.)
James Dalton who married Agatha Patterson had a brother Lewis. So, also, David Dalton, Jr., and Judith had a son Lewis. But these two men appear to be different men. Tax and census records indicate the latter was born in the decade before the former. In addition, they lived in different counties during their maturity : Lewis, the brother of James, in Hawkins and Sullivan County TN; and Lewis, s/o David and Judith, in Pittsylvania County VA. Thus, David Dalton, Jr., of Pittsylvania County VA was not the father of James and Lewis Dalton of Hawkins County TN.
Prepared by James F. Klumpp with research assistance from Melanie Crain, Steve Harris, and Noreen Amerding.
Last revised March 14, 2001