DALTON, DAVID LOUIS, Secretary of State, was born December 31, 1822, in Maury County, Tenn., and died November 13, 1894, at Shannon, Miss., son of William Sims and Milbury (Halford) Dalton, the former a native of North Carolina and a teacher, and the former a native of Virginia, of Irish descent. He obtained his primary education in his native state. He was a lawyer by profession, but details of his career as a lawyer are not available. When he came to Alabama is not definitely known, but he probably located in Florence before 1860. In that year he was clerk in the Indian Bureau at Washington, D. C. He held clerkships under the Confederate government at Montgomery and at Richmond. He was Secretary of State, 1865-67; private secretary to Gov. W. H. Smith, 1868-1870; and a clerk in the State Department of Education. During the last years of his life he resided at Shannon, Miss., where he was postmaster. He was a Democrat, and a Mason. Married: in June, 1845, at Florence, to Kate Louisa, daughter of Ebenezer and Jane (Wasson) Darby, who lived at that place, the former from Connecticut, and the latter of Welsh ancestry. Children: 1. Son who died in infancy; 2. Marie, residing at Shannon, Miss, unmarried. Last residence: Shannon, Miss.

Authorities:
Owen, Thomas McAdory, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Spartanburg: The Reprint Company Publishers, 1978 (1921), III, 451.