1780Gloster Dalton first appeared in the Town Records.People and Communities, African American History, Notable People

Gloster Dalton was enslaved at birth in 1723 but likely given his freedom by John Ellery of Boston in 1748. Dalton was literate, as he was one of the first signers of the Universalist Charter in 1785. He was asked to finance a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and in 1782, when the Halifax Cartel made a stop in Gloucester because of sickness, he billed the town for the care of the captives.

Dalton married Phillis Freeman in 1787. This may not have been his first marriage. He had several children and grandchildren, including Thomas Dalton (1794-1884), who was a prominent Boston abolitionist and co-founder of the Massachusetts General Colored Association.