Thomas Dalton (abolitionist)

Thomas Dalton (1794–1883) was a free African American raised in Massachusetts who was dedicated to improving the lives of people of color. He was active, at times with his wife Lucy Lew Dalton, in the founding or ongoing activities of local educational organizations, including the Massachusetts General Colored Association, New England Anti-Slavery Society, Boston Mutual Lyceum, and Infant School Association, and campaigned for school integration, which was achieved in 1855.

Lucy and Thomas Dalton strongly believed that integrating schools and improving education for the colored children of Boston was the best avenue "to remove the prejudice which exists against the people of color."

Thomas Dalton was baptized on October 17, 1794, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. His father was Thomas Dalton.

After Thomas Dalton moved from Gloucester to Boston and he married Patience Young in 1818. She died in 1832 in Boston. Massachusetts.

The widower Thomas Dalton married Lucy Lew Francis in 1834. Lucy Lew was born in Dracut, Massachusetts (now Lowell), on May 7, 1790, one of 13 children. Her father, Barzillai Lew (1743–1822), born a free black, was a Revolutionary War soldier and a musician. Her mother Dinah Bowman (1744–1837), born a slave, was of mixed-race and described as fair-skinned. About 1766, Brazillai bought Dinah’s freedom from the Blood family for 400 pounds (today $28,000.) Lucy Lew and her siblings attended the integrated public Coburn Mission School. Her father sang in the choir at the Pawtucket Congregational Church.

Lucy Lew married her first husband, Samuel Francis, and they lived in the African American community on the north side of Beacon Hill, and were involved in the community's cultural activities.

In 1823, Dalton worked as a bootblack and lived on Botolph Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Dalton lived at 29 South Russell Street in Boston from 1848-1853. In 1850 William Dalton, a waiter, was also living at the address. He was also noted as living there in 1864-1865. At an unspecified time, Dalton lived on Flagg Alley; with Dudley Tidd, he purchased land from the Thomas Paul estate [Paul, founding preacher of the African Meeting House, died in 1831]. At the time of his death in 1883, he was living on Bunker Hill Avenue in Charlestown.

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