Finding Aid of the Dalton Family Papers, 1851 - 1973, PC.1949

[Identification of item], PC.1949, Dalton Family Papers, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, USA.

The heart of this collection is made up of twelve original manuscript sermons written and preached by the Rev. Pleasant Hunter Dalton (1821-1896), and five original manuscripts written by his son, Archie Carter Dalton (1853-1876).

Of the twelve surviving sermons written by Mr. Dalton in this collection, all bear notations of the places where, and when, the sermon was preached. Each bears at its head the number of the hymn or psalm appropriate to the sermon. Ranging in date from 1851 to 1894, the sermons are drawn primarily from the prophets, the gospels, and the epistles. None of the sermons are occasional, though one on the text of 2 Timothy 4:6 was preached at one funeral in 1878 and at another in 1884. A second sermon, quiet and reflective in tone, on the text of Isaiah 3:10-11, while not marked as having been preached at a funeral, would have served very well for that purpose.

The collection includes four speeches written by Archie Carter Dalton as a member of one of the debating societies at Davidson. The earliest, dated October 1874, argues in the affirmative the question, . The second speech, dated December 1874, on the question, , was not delivered on account of the Christmas holiday. The third speech, undated but written late in 1875 or early in 1876, proposes that passage of time is necessary before America produces great men of letters on a par with those of England. The fourth speech, written in April 1876, is on the subject of , and argues that each is a separate entity . An undated composition entitled, , is on the subject of the vanity of worldly aspirations.

Miscellaneous original manuscripts in the collection include a letter dated Oct. 20, 1851, written from Lexington, N.C., by the Rev. Jesse Rankin (1802-1876), a Presbyterian educator, to U.S. Congressman Joseph Pearson Caldwell (1808-1853) of Statesville, N.C., on the subject of removal of free blacks to Liberia under the auspices of the American Colonization Society (despite the objections of abolitionists), the planned removal of several North Carolina free black families in general, and the removal of an unnamed family from Statesville to Liberia in particular. The sense of the letter is that Rankin was acting as an agent of the American Colonization Society. Other miscellaneous papers including an 1853 appearance bond unrelated to the collection, and five undated pages of quotations and proverbs in the handwriting of the Rev. Mr. Dalton.

Dalton family history is represented in the collection by family memoranda and photocopies and typescripts from Bibles, of births, deaths, and marriages of the Dalton family from 1770 to 1895, and of the Hunter family from 1740 to 1833. There are, as well, a few twentieth-century newspaper obituaries (mostly undated) of various Dalton family members,and a fourteen page typescript genealogy of the descendants of the Rev. Pleasant H. Dalton.

Arranged by subject.

The Reverend Pleasant Hunter Dalton, son of Nicholas and Rachel (Hunter) Dalton of Rockingham County, N.C., was educated in the University of North Carolina (A.B., 1844), Princeton University (theological studies, 1844-1846), and Union Theological Seminary (graduate, 1847). Licensed by the Presbytery of Orange in North Carolina in 1847, Mr. Dalton was dismissed to the Presbytery of Concord where he was ordained at the close of 1848. He remained in the Presbytery of Concord, serving as supply pastor and missionary, from 1848 until 1857 when he was dismissed to the Presbytery of Orange. Mr. Dalton was a member of the Presbytery of Orange from 1857 to 1889 when he was dismissed back to the Presbytery of Concord where he remained until his death in 1896. Except for the years from 1857 to 1859 when he was principal of Beulah Female Academy at Madison, N.C., and the years from 1867 to 1872 when he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Washington, N.C., Mr. Dalton was primarily engaged as evangelist, missionary, and supply pastor in the Presbytery of Orange. He is said to have been within that presbytery. He organized several churches within the Presbytery of Concord, as well. Upon his return to the Presbytery of Concord in 1889, Mr. Dalton assumed the pastorate of the church at Mocksville, N.C., where he remained until his death seven years later.

Archie Carter Dalton, son of the clergyman, entered Davidson College in 1874 and died in 1876 while still a student. He was licensed to preach in 1875 by the Presbytery of Orange, but did not live to be ordained.

1. Papers,1851-1973

Dalton, Archie Carter, 1853-1876.

Dalton, Pleasant Hunter, 1821-1896.

Dalton family.

Hunter Family

American Colonization Society.

Davidson College.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Presbytery of Concord.

Presbyterian Church in the U.S. Presbytery of Orange.

African Americans--Colonization--Africa.

Church and state.

Civil rights--United States--History--19th century.

Funeral sermons.

Sermons, American--19th century.

African Americans

Church and state

Civil rights

Funeral Sermons

Sermons

Presbyterian church

Ministers

Pastors

Statesville (N.C.)

Deposited by Mrs., P. Hunter Dalton, Jr., May 28, 1983; gift of P. Hunter Dalton III, High Point, N.C., 2004

Processed by George Stevenson, December 30, 2004; Encoded by Dietra Stanley, October, 2006; edited and updated for publication in DOC by Fran Tracy-Walls, June 2019; April 2020.