Dalton (Rough Neck)   In 1870, the Dalton community was located west of Bristol. Among the earliest settlers were the Penrod, Heard, Crowder and Evans families. They were joined by the Richardson, Lanningham, Clemons, Vestal and Parker families and later by the Cox, Grahams, Minters and Williams. A one room house served as a school and church until 1912 when a Baptist church was built. Reverends F. M. Hensley and J. S. Elliott were early preachers. Church activities provided much of the social life with play parties, ice cream and box suppers. Revival meetings made a great impression on the people. In 1916, a two-story frame school house was built which served its purpose until 1943-44 when the school was consolidated with Palmer. The building was bought by the Jack Hart family in 1948 and moved to Garrett for use as a residence. In 1914, E. V. Clark owned and operated a general store which was destroyed by fire in 1916. A brick building was then erected and the store was in operation until 1929. We have heard this community was sometimes called "Rough Neck" but do not know the source of this information. References: Hawkins, et al, Ellis County History Workshop, History of Ellis County, Texian Press, Waco. 1972. Interviews with Mrs. Troy Murphy and Mrs. Jackl Hart   Copyright © 2002-2016, Ellis County TXGenWeb. All Rights Reserved. This page was last modified: Thursday, 01-Jul-2021 13:17:03 MDT