Sacramento County
Biographies
ALFRED DALTON, Jr.
The varying experiences that enter into
every well-rounded career have fallen to the lot of Mr. Dalton since the time
when, an energetic lad of thirteen, he departed from the shelter of the
home-roof and took up for himself the struggle necessary to the earning of a
livelihood. The loss of educational advantages and the lack of parental
encouragement were partially recompensed by the increased self-reliance
resultant from the personal encounter with the world affairs. His privilege it
has been to travel extensively through the west, to see much of this portion of
the world and thus to gain the information that makes him a broad-minded
citizen ever striving to promote the welfare of his native commonwealth.
The village of Benicia in Solano county is Mr. Dalton's native place, and October 21, 1858,
the date of his birth. His father, Alfred Dalton, Sr., is a pioneer of 1850 in
California and a very early settler of Benicia, where for over forty years he
has officiated as a member of the school board and was largely instrumental in
the building of the high school. When only thirteen years of
age Alfred. Jr., began to learn the printer's
trade in the composing room of the Benicia Tribune under the then
proprietors, Messrs. Linthicum and Hopkins. When the paper was moved to Dixon,
Solano county, he went there also, but a year later
left and removed to San Francisco, where he found work in the job office of B.
F. Sterritt & Co., the oldest job office in the
city. Later he finished the printer's trade in the employ of the Chronicle
at San Francisco.
During the excitement at the Caribou mines
in British Columbia about 1878 Mr. Dalton went to that country and spent some
time prospecting and mining, but did not meet with any good fortune. Upon his
return to Benicia he secured employment with the New Era. Two years
later he bought out the paper and for twelve years he continued to publish a
weekly sheet at that place. Afterward he removed to Martinez, Contra Costa county, where he purchased and for five years published the News.
About that time the country began to be excited by reports from the Klondike
gold fields and he became anxious to try his luck in Alaska, so he sold out his
interests and left California. While on the steamer en route to the north some
of the passengers fell ill with the smallpox and all on the ship were
quarantined for two weeks. Eventually they were put ashore at Egg Island, a
barren rise of land off the coast of Alaska. After hardships innumerable Mr.
Dalton reached Nome, but owing to the lawless conditions which prevailed he
made little headway financially during the year of his sojourn at Nome. On his
return to California he remained for a short time at Benicia, after which he
entered the state printing office at Sacramento. The study of law, which he had
taken up while still in the newspaper business, took his attention for some
years, and August 28, 1905, he was admitted to practice at the bar of the
state. Since his admission to practice he has been unusually successful. As a
speaker he is fluent, logical and forceful.
The marriage of Mr. Dalton united him with
Miss Hannah Newmark, of Benicia, who is an earnest
member of the Episcopal church and past matron of
Silver Gate Chapter, O. E. S. She is a daughter of Dr. Valentine Newmark, deceased. Mr. Dalton is a member of Benicia Lodge
No. 5, F. & A. M., also Benicia Chapter, R. A. M.
He is one of the older members of the Native Sons, being past president of
Benicia and Martinez parlors, and at present a member of Sutter Fort parlor. He
is also past chancellor of Benicia Lodge No. 99, K. P. No. 1 Veteran's Knights
of Pythias, of Sacramento, the only lodge of its kind
in the entire world, numbers him among its members. Through his efforts as
promoter and first president a company was organized, known as the Sacramento
Labor Temple Association, which bought property on the corner of eighth and I
streets and erected a substantial structure of five stories for the exclusive
use of all labor unions and kindred organizations. As attorney for the company
he managed every legal phase of the work, and in addition he attended to the
financing of the enterprise, which in itself was no small undertaking. For some
years he has served as secretary of the organization, and this, together with
his work as attorney, makes him still a leading factor in the management of the
company's holdings.
Mr. Dalton is the father of three
children: Valentine, a structural steel architect in the employ of the J. G.
White Construction Company; Hazel Florence, stenographer for C. K. McClatchy,
and Alfred Percival, an automobile machinist.
Transcribed by Sally Kaleta.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento County,
California, Pages 843-845. Historic
Record Company,
© 2006 Sally Kaleta.