DWIGHT A. MOULTON

       Few, if any, of our American families can trace their ancestral history back through the chronicles of the dim and mystic past, through a more honorable and exalted lineage, or to a higher or nobler source, than can the Moulton family.  The records of their family are not surrounded in doubt or founded on conjecture.

       In the Doomsday Book, compiled in 1086, mention is made of the Moultons as being one of the most distinguished families of the Merry Isle.  The name is of Norman origin.  When William the Conqueror crossed the channel and made his conquest of England, in 1066, the Moultons also became residents of that land.  In a history published by John T. Moulton, of Lynn, Massachusetts, appears the following:

       "Thomas de Moulton was a favorite of Richard Coeur de Lion in 1190.  He is called Lord of Gillisland in Cumberland.  Sir Walter Scott introduces him as Lord de Vaux in the "Talisman".  He is probably the same Thomas de Moulton who, as one of the barons, signed the Magna Charta in 1215.  Thomas de Moulton, a grandson of Thomas (1st), was also a signer of the Great Charter of Edward in 1297.  They were Lords of Egmont in Cumberland.  Moulton Hall in Wilberton, now in ruins, was once the property of Sir Thomas.  Dugdale says:  "Here was an old hospital for poor people, dedicated to St. Leonard, which was given with the manor A. D. 1230 to the Knights Hospitalers by Sir Thomas de Moulton, Knight."  Prior to 1571 the Moultons bore arms with devices differing in minor details but alike in the main.  The following is a description of the coast of arms granted in 1571:  Moulton argent: three bars gules, between eight escallop shells; sable three, two, two and one.  Crest on a fillet, a falcon rising, argent."

       As many as seven Moultons were in America at an early day, one in the Jamestown settlement in 1635.  John and Thomas Moulton emigrated from Norfolk county to Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1638, and their names appear in the list of first settlers.  In October, 1637, John and Thomas were inhabitants of Newbury, Massachusetts.  In November 1637, "Certain inhabitants of Newbury, Massachusetts were moved to leave this plantation; the court did grant them Winniscourt, now Hampton, to have six miles square; and those who shall remove within one year shall have three years immunity from taxes, beginning March 1, 1638."  A  company was formed by the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, and with this company John and Thomas Moulton went to Winniscourt and aided in the founding of the settlement, now Hampton, in 1638.  From Thomas in direct line of descent is General Jonathan Moulton, of Moultonsborough, on the shores of Lake Winnepesaukee, where the General had holdings of eighty thousand acres north of the lake.  It was from General Moulton that Dwight Augustus Moulton, of this review, is descended.  The line is traced down from Thomas de Moulton, the signer of the Magna Charta, to Thomas Moulton who located in Hampton, New Hampshire in 1638, and on through Milton Moulton, who married Ruth Russ.  Their son, Harvey Moulton, wedded Anne Turner, a daughter of Elijah and Hannah (Clark) Turner.  Charles Harvey Moulton , a son of Harvey and Ann (Turner) Moulton, was the father of our subject.   He was born January 2, 1835, and died June 10, 1867.  His wife bore the maiden name of Emeline Elvira Reed.  She was born January 4, 1836, and is now living in Ashford, Connecticut. Her parents were Daniel  Bardine and Amanda (Knowlton) Reed.  The former was born in 1801 and died in 1884.  His parents were Daniel (born in 1779) and Augusta (Fenton) Reed, and his grandfather was Matthew Reed born in 1742. His father, Daniel, was born in 1716, a son of Daniel, who was born in 1680, a son of Daniel, born in 1655, a son of John, born in 1598 and came to America in 1638.  Matthew's wife was a daughter of Jonathan and Viah (Sanger) Knowlton.  Her paternal grandparents were Thomas and Martha (Marcy) Knowlton, and Thomas  Knowlton was a son of John and Margery Knowlton, of Ispwich, Massachusetts.  Thus it will be seen that on both the paternal and maternal sides the families from which our subject is descended have been long connected with the history of New England, and their representatives have been prominent factors in many of the events which have formed the history of the nation.

       Dwight Augustus Moulton, now one of the leading citizens of Sacramento, and the efficient deputy state treasurer, was born January 23, 1861, in Windham, Connecticut, and at the age of twelve years removed to Massachusetts.  He attended the public schools and was graduated in the high school of Brookfield, Massachusetts, in the class of 1878.  During the following winter, he taught a country school in Connecticut and then pursued a course of instruction in Eastman's Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York.  In May 1879, he entered the employ of Willimantic Linen Company, spool-cotton manufacturers  of Willimantic, Connecticut, as office boy.  He was promoted from year to year, holding successively the positions of invoice clerk, shipping and entry clerk, and bookkeeper in the corporation store.  In June 1885, he left the employ of the linen company and came to California, arriving in San Bernardino on the 27th of June of that year. Mr. Moulton spent the winter of 1885-6 in Bear Valley in the employ of the Bear Valley Irrigation Company, tabulating meteorlogical data upon the company's record books.  In May, 1886, he entered the employ of Porter & Burt, lumber manufacturers and dealers of San Bernardino, in the capacity of bookkeeper, occupying that position until the sale of the plant to the West Coast Lumber Company, in the spring of 1887.  He then became a partner in the San Bernardino Fuel & Lime Company and was connected with the enterprise until June 1, 1891, at which time he entered the employ of James G. Burt, hardware dealer, as confidential clerk and bookkeeper.  On the death of Mr. Burt in 1893, he became one of the executors of the estate, and as such continued the business until December, 1894, when the stock was sold.  In January, 1895, he was appointed deputy county clerk of San Bernardino county and also acted as clerk of the board of supervisors, which position he held until January 1, 1899, at which time he was appointed deputy state treasurer under Hon. Truman Reeves.  He is an able, trustworthy and incorruptible public official, and in his present position has already won high commendation by his prompt and faithful discharge of duty.