daughter of james William Henry Gambill, Sr. - Sarah Ward

Lucinda Gambill married Marcus Dalton in 1838 at Fannin County, Texas.

Ms. Dalton was a member of the Primitive Baptist church and attended services at the Slaughter Valley Baptist Church built on the Slaughter Ranch by Rev. George Webb Slaughter.

The Palo Pinto Baptist Church records show that after the death of the stalwart Slaughter, the Slaughters and the Dalton's moved their membership to that church. The bell in the Palo Pinto Baptist Church building was donated by Mrs. Slaughter in 1900.

Information from our family records.

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DALTON, MRS. LUCINDA
In the year 1855, during a period of temporary peace on the frontier, Mr. and Mrs. Marcus L. Dalton moved to Palo Pinto County, and located a ranch at the mouth of Rock Creek, on the Brazos River. Mr. Dalton was a Tennesseean by birth, a son of John Dalton, of Murfreesboro, and had been a resident of Texas since 1838. In 1840, two years after his settlement in Red River County, Texas, he was married to Miss Lucinda Gamble, the subject of this sketch. She was born in Logan County, Kentucky, June 3, 1819. Her father, William Gamble, was a North Carolinian, born in 1786, who moved to Texas in 1839, settling in Lamar County, but eventually moving to the neighborhood of Honey Grove, in Fannin County. His wife, originally a Miss Sarah Ward, was born in 1794, died August 4, 1852. Mr. Gamble died April 15, 1876.
In moving to Palo Pinto County, Mr. Dalton brought with him seventy head of cattle, purchased with gold given to Mrs. Dalton and her father. This, comparatively speaking, was a small beginning in the cattle business, but this herd turned out upon the range, rapidly increased and soon became a source of income to its owners. The first cattle sold, fifty in number, were disposed of to the Indians at the agency at $20 a head. Five years from the establishment of the ranch the Dalton herd had increased to l,000 head, and there was also quite a number of horses on the ranch; but in 1860 the Indians stole sixty head of the latter, and from that time on the ranch suffered frequently from their raids. In view of the rapid increase of cattle it became necessary to look about for a market for the surplus, and Mr. Dalton decided to drive a herd to New Mexico. This was in 1866. His first herd numbered 800 head, for which he received $16,000. The following year he repeated the venture, this time taking 1,000 head, which he sold for $22,000. He was away eleven months on this trip, but returned in time to prepare for a third drive in 1868, taking 500 head through to Kansas and selling them for $6,000. This amount, with others paid him for cattle sold in New Mexico, was received in gold, and as there were no banks or other safe places of deposit in his locality, Mr. Dalton buried his money on the home ranch, thus placing it beyond the reach of thieves and of bank failures as well.
Mr. Dalton's second trip to Kansas, in 1869, ended disastrously. He drove through 600 head of very fine steers, for which he received $15,000. After six months' absence he turned homeward, having sold his cattle, and purchased a supply of goods and provisions for his ranch, including two new wagons. Accompanied by James Redfield and James McCaster, he returned in safety to Weatherford, Texas, where he spent the night of the 7th of November at the house of his son-in-law, Dr. J. J. Valentine. The following day, while continuing the journey homeward, the three men were attacked by thirty or forty Indians and all killed. The assault was made in Loving's Valley, at a point near the line of Parker and Palo Pinto Counties. The Indians were concealed behind a fallen live oak near the trail, and were discovered too late for the doomed men to seek safety in flight. Mr. Dalton had with him five mules and fourteen saddle-horses, and two wagons, as before stated, loaded with supplies of various kinds. Among the lot were two trunks containing clothing for Mrs. Dalton and their daughters. These were broken into, and the Indians appropriated everything that they could find of value, but failed to discover $11,500 in greenbacks which was hidden in an old shoe and left by the murderers in the tray of one of the trunks. The bodies of the three men were riddled with arrows, scalped, and left where they fell, until the following day, when they were discovered by Green Lassiter, one of Mr. Dalton's neighbors. He recognized the body of Mr. Dalton, and conveyed the remains to Weatherford, where the three victims were interred. McCaster and Redfield, though strangers to the family, were buried at Mrs. Dalton's own expense. Green Lassiter, mentioned above, was killed by the Indians the ensuing autumn while endeavoring to recover a number of stolen horses.
After her husband's death Mrs. Dalton sold the remainder of her cattle to James C. Loving on time, but afterward had to take back $9,000 worth of them, which she sent to Crosby County in charge of her two sons. Five years later she sold out her entire holding of cattle and was to receive $100,000, but has never been paid more than $80,000 of that amount. In 1871 she purchased 1,000 acres of land, for which she paid $3,600, and she has given her children $l.000 each, and invested in lands and property of various descriptions. Mrs. Dalton is still actively interested in cattle raising, and has sold each year, since 1870, from 500 to 1,000 head. Her sales of cattle in 1894 amounted to $11,000.
The money won by her husband in his various ventures on the trail has increased under Mrs. Dalton's management, and the greater portion of it is safely invested. Mrs. Dalton has 10,000 acres in ranch and farm land, part of which lies in the Brazos bottom and is simply unexcelled in fertility. There is a valuable coal mine on one of her farms, which will, as the country develops, become in itself a source of great wealth. Besides a fine residence in Weatherford, Mrs. Dalton has a two-story business house in that city, which brings in a neat sum yearly in rentals. She has, also, stock to the amount of $6,000 in a rolling mill in Weatherford, and 530,000 out at interest.
Mrs. Dalton is a member of the Baptist Church and donates liberally to all public enterprises. She has recently given a fine bell, engraved with her name, to the Baptist Church in Palo Pinto, and is generally first on the list when it is necessary to assist any commendable enterprise of social and moral importance.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. M. L. Dalton are all reputable and prominent citizens of Central and Western Texas. Charles A., George W. and Robert S. are living in Palo Pinto County; W. C. and G. L., and a daughter, Mrs. Jane Valentine, are residents of Weatherford; John lives in the Pan Handle of Texas, and another daughter, Mrs. Mary Heron, lives in Young County. (Source: Historical and Biographical Record of the Cattle Industry and the Cattlemen of Texas by James Cox, Published by Woodward & Tiernan Printing Co, St Louis, 1895