Dover and Martha Conner Dalton
Dover Green Dalton was born on October 14, 1889, in Pulaski, Virginia. He was the oldest child of Robert Hill Dalton and Roena Isabelle Via Dalton. By the time of the 1900 United States Census, Robert had moved his family to the Willis area of Floyd County, where the household had grown to include Effie Opifila Dalton Conner (1893–1947), Lala Dalton Belcher (1896–1983), and Ruby Dalton Agee (1898–1959).
Robert and Roena’s family continued to grow with the births of Lona Mildred “Keat” Dalton Hylton (1901–1949), Frank James Dalton (1903–1978), Barbara Lillian Dalton Harris (1905–1988), William Walling Dalton (1907–1933), Larnie May Dalton (1911–1981), and Foster Edwin Dalton (1914–1995).
On November 17, 1910, Dover married Miss Martha Jane Conner, the daughter of Charlie Cicero Conner and Malvina Jane Hylton of Woolwine. Martha was the only daughter among her brothers, Robert Emmitt Conner (1890–1974) and Rufus Lee Conner (1896–1932).
Following their marriage, Dover and Martha established their home across from the Lawson School on Willis Road in Meadows of Dan. Dover was a man of many talents and an accomplished carpenter and builder. Among the homes he constructed was the house now commonly known to Rock Castle hikers as the Austin House, which was originally the Conner-Belcher house.
George William “Mac” Conner hired Dover to build the home in Rock Castle using poplar trees harvested from the property and milled on-site with a portable sawmill. Mac paid Dover one dollar per day for 600 days to complete the project. Finished in 1916, this remarkable home still stands today, a testament to Dover’s exceptional craftsmanship more than a century later.
Dover and Martha raised eight children in Meadows of Dan: Hazel Irene Dalton Hall (1912–1991), Jessie Viola Dalton (1915–1928), Stella Lee Dalton Carter (1917–1946), Robert Lawrence Dalton (1919–1939), Geneva Dell Dalton Swinney Varner (1922–1996), Loel Dillon Dalton Draper (1926–2025), and Winton Clifford Dalton (1929–2004).
Although they endured heartbreaking loss, they remained people of remarkable faith and kindness. Jessie died tragically of typhoid fever at only thirteen years of age, Stella lost her battle with cancer at twenty-eight, and Robert died of meningitis at the age of nineteen. Despite these unimaginable tragedies, Dover and Martha never became bitter. Instead, they were loved and respected throughout the Meadows of Dan community.
My mother and aunt always looked forward to visiting Dover and Martha. Dover enjoyed crocheting and often made beautiful handmade items that he generously gave to friends and neighbors. His kindness and generosity left lasting memories with those who knew him.
During the mid-1950s, several of the Daltons’ children found employment in the textile and tobacco industries around Reidsville, North Carolina. Wanting to be closer to their family, Dover and Martha relocated to the Leaksville-Draper-Spray area.
Retirement certainly did not slow the industrious couple. Dover continued woodworking and cabinet making, while Martha remained well known for her quilting, crocheting, and homemaking skills. Their talents were recognized in a feature article published in The Leaksville News on December 16, 1964.
The Leaksville News
Wednesday, December 16, 1964
Section E
Makes Own Sewing Machine Cabinet
Mr. and Mrs. Dover Dalton display some of their handiwork, including crocheted doilies and a sewing machine cabinet, which Dalton fashioned from cedar, Northern pine and other wood. Mrs. Dalton holds a coverlet woven over 100 years ago by her grandmother. Her husband holds the sewing machine cover which he designed and made.
Daltons Combine Talents to Create Pieces of Art
By Rose Marie Adams
The handmade quilts, potholders and crocheted doilies fashioned by Mrs. Dover Dalton, of 503 Cascade Road, Spray, are delightfully quaint and artistic in design and quite appropriate for any home, whether contemporary or colonial.
Not to be outdone by the ingenuity of his wife, Dover Dalton was just as adept in the art of making beautiful things. He created lovely, crocheted items, but cabinet making was where he truly excelled.
A cross between Oriental and Pennsylvania Dutch styles, the cabinet he designed and built around his wife’s portable electric sewing machine was entirely his own creation. Fashioned from plywood with cedar trim, it became an attractive conversation piece. The sewing machine cover required painstaking precision, featuring intricate inlaid pieces of Northern pine and cedar placed in alternating patterns. Walnut handles, slender cedar accents, and cedar shamrocks decorating the cabinet doors completed this remarkable work of artistry.
The sink cabinets, stools crafted from walnut and cherry, and numerous other woodworking projects reflected the skill of an experienced carpenter who truly knew his trade. Cabinet making had been Mr. Dalton’s vocation until his retirement several years earlier.
At seventy-five years of age, and recovering from a recent illness, Mr. Dalton had slowed his pace considerably.
“I’m just taking it easy right now,” he remarked.
Native Virginians, Dover, a native of Pulaski County, had spent most of his life in Floyd County. He was the son of the late R. H. and Bell Dalton and the oldest of ten children.
Mr. and Mrs. Dalton had recently celebrated their fifty-fourth wedding anniversary at their home adjoining the property of their daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Swinney. Although they had spent two winters there before leaving their Virginia farm, they eventually decided to make North Carolina their permanent home.
“It’s much nicer and warmer in the winter,” they explained.
The Daltons were the parents of eight children, five of whom were living. In addition to Mrs. Swinney, their surviving children included Mrs. Hazel Hall of Draper, Mrs. Charlie Draper of Wentworth, Mrs. Lewis Spencer of Carroll County, Virginia, and Winton Dalton of Manassas, Virginia. They were also blessed with twenty grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Mrs. Dalton was an outstanding cook who especially enjoyed preparing meals for her family. Her chicken and dumplings were a favorite among the Daltons.
“I have no special way of preparing the chicken,” she explained. “I simply boil the chicken until tender and then drop in the dumplings.”
One of her secrets for making light, tender dumplings was allowing them to cook in the steam without exposing them to outside air. She prepared them from self-rising biscuit dough rolled about one-fourth inch thick before cutting them into small pieces and dropping them into well-seasoned broth thickened with a simple flour-and-milk mixture.
Dover Green Dalton passed away on December 14, 1967, at the age of seventy-eight. Martha Jane Conner Dalton followed on May 3, 1979, at the age of eighty-seven. They were laid to rest together in the Dalton Family Cemetery in Meadows of Dan.
More than half a century after their passing, Dover and Martha Dalton continue to be remembered not only for the home they built and the family they raised, but also for the kindness they showed others, the craftsmanship they perfected, and the legacy they left behind. Their lives remind us that the greatest works are often built not only with skilled hands, but with generous hearts.
Thank you to Shirlien Belcher and John Swinney for providing information for this story. For questions, comments, or story ideas, please contact Woody at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or 276-692-9626.
