Cumberland County, Maine - Rev. Asa Dalton, D.D.
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Biography
Rev. Asa Dalton, D.D.
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 286-288


Rev. Asa Dalton, D.D., Rector of St. Stephen's, Portland, Me-, was born in
Westbrook, Me., October 30, 1824. He comes from good old New England stock,
being a descendant of Philemon Dalton, who emigrated to this country in 1635,
bringing with him his wife and son, and was one of the founders of Dedham, Mass.
After a time he moved to New Hampshire, and settled in Hampton, of which place
he was also one of the first settlers and incorporators.

Philemon Dalton soon became a leading man in his new home. He was elected to
many offices of trust, and gained the respect and confidence of the people among
whom he dwelt. He became Deacon of the church and Selectman, and, as civil
magistrate, had authority to perform marriage ceremonies. He died June 4, 1662,
from injuries received from the fall of a tree. The Rev. Timothy Dalton, brother
of Philemon, also sought a home in the New World. The rectorship of
Woolverstone, Suffolk, England, which he had held for more than twenty years,
was taken from him under the tyrannical rule of Archbishop Laud. He, therefore,
in 1637 left England, and joined his brother Philemon at Hampton, and was the
first "teacher" of the church there.

Samuel, son of Philemon Dalton, was born in England, 1629, but was brought up in
this country from his early childhood. His career proves him to have been a man
of sense and integrity. He was called upon while quite a young man to fill
offices of trust; and he served as Clerk of the town of Hampton for thirty
years, nearly all the deeds, wills, and civic records being in his handwriting.
He represented Hampton in the General Court in 1662, 1664, 1666, 1669, 1671,
1673, and 1679. He was in 1665 elected Associate judge of the courts of Norfolk
and Treasurer of the county, which offices he held until 168o, when New
Hampshire formed a separate government. As soon as the new order was
established, so high was the esteem in which Mr. Samuel Dalton was held that he
was elected a member of the first council held by the State under President
Cutt, an office he held until' his death. On February 6, 1650, 'he married
Mehitable, daughter of Henry Palmer, of Haverhill. She survived her husband, and
married the Rev. Zachariah Symmes, of Bradford.

Philemon Dalton, son of Samuel, was born in Hampton, N.H., December 16, 1664. He
lived on the homestead, and did not go into public life, but served in the
church, holding the office of Deacon. He was married on September 25, 1690, to
Abigail Gove, daughter of Edward and Hannah (Titcomb) Gove. Their son Samuel was
born July 22, 1694. He was a teacher, and married Mary, daughter of Moses T. and
Mary (Carr) Leavitt, who was a descendant of Thomas, of Exeter, N.H. Michael
Dalton, brother of Samuel, became a prominent merchant in Newburyport, Mass.,
and was the father of Tristram Dalton, who was the first United States Senator
from that State.

Samuel, the son of Samuel and Mary (Leavitt) Dalton, was born in Hampton, N.H.,
April 5, 1726. In 1757 he married Sarah Scott; and they were early settlers of
Parsonsfield, Me. Their son, Samuel Dalton, was born in Hampton, N.H., August 7,
1771. He became a merchant, and married in 1795 Mary, daughter of Joel and Lydia
(Perkins) Bennett, of York, Me., a descendant of John Bennett, of Wells, Me.

Samuel Dalton, of Westbrook, Me., born in Parsonsfield, November 25, 1797, son
of Samuel and Mary (Bennett) Dalton, was a merchant, as was his father before
him. He married on October 12, 1819, Mary Ann, daughter of Joseph Huckins, of
Effingham, N.H., and his wife, Mary Jenness, of Portsmouth, N.H. Mrs. Dalton was
a descendant of Robert Huckins, whose son James was killed by the Indians, when
his house in the garrison was taken, and all its inmates slain, with the
exception of one son, Robert, who escaped the following day.

The Rev. Asa Dalton is the eighth in descent from Philemon Dalton, his first
American ancestor. Dr. Dalton's parents removed from Maine to Massachusetts
during his boyhood; and in the Cambridge High School he was fitted for Harvard
University, where he was graduated with distinction in 1848, a member of the Phi
Beta Kappa Society, from the first eight of his class. After receiving his
college degree, he decided to enter the ministry, and continued his studies at
Cambridge, at the Divinity School of the University. Not long after, Mr. Dalton
went to Newport, R.I., where he established a classical school, which had a
prosperous career. Later he accepted the position of Assistant Rector of the
Church of the Ascension in New York. During two years of this ministry he also
edited the Protestant Churchman of that city. From 1856 to 1862 Mr. Dalton was
Rector of St. John's Parish, Bangor; and one year later, in 1863, he came to
Portland, where he assumed his present charge, the rectorship of St. Stephen's.
He married, in 1851, Maria Jackson, a native of Roxbury, Mass., the daughter of
the Rev. William and Mary Brown Leverett.

The spiritual elevation of those about him as well as the material advancement
of the church, bear witness to Dr. Dalton's faithful and efficient ministry. His
broad outlook and wide sympathies have conjoined to establish the happiest
relations between the parish and the various congregations of other
denominations in the city. During his ministry at St. Stephen's, Dr. Dalton has
delivered fifteen courses of free lectures upon historical and literary
subjects, and these lectures have been largely attended by the most intelligent
people of the city. Their popularity has not been confined to Portland, as they
have been widely reported and read; and it is only the just measure of praise to
say that these literary talks were the most popular lectures ever given in this
city. Dr. Dalton's energy as a writer is remarkable. Besides frequent
contributions to periodicals and reviews, he has I written and published a
volume of sermons and a church history, which have received appreciative
commendations from both the secular and religious press. He has always
cooperated with other churches in their religious and charitable work, and is
connected with several literary and benevolent societies. His name is enrolled
among the members of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society and the
Maine Historical Society, and he is Vice-President of the Harvard Club of Maine.
No surer testimony of a man's life work can be given than the happier, wiser,
better condition of those among whom and for whom he has labored.

A Maine man, Dr. Dalton early decided to devote his life to the highest
interests of his native State, a plan to which he has adhered unswervingly,
subordinating all sectarian relations and schemes to this purpose - namely, that
of promoting the intellectual and 'moral advancement of his city and State.