The subject of this sketch was born in Lancaster County, Va., April 18, 1859. His father, William Thomas Dalby, who died at Baltimore, Md., at the age of seventy years, was at the time of his death the oldest Past Master of Washington Lodge No. 3, A. F. & A. M., of that city. The father’s blood running in the veins of the son made him a devoted and warm-hearted Mason he has proved himself to be ever since he saw for the first time the Masonic light shining upon the Altar of Aztlan Lodge No. 1, at Prescott, Arizona.

Bro. Dalby attended the primary and intermediate schools at Baltimore, Md., where he secured a thorough knowledge of the several branches taught in the public schools of that city. At the age of twenty-one years he followed the advice of the sage Horace Greeley and started for the west, arriving in Prescott, Arizona, December, 1880, where he remained till 1883. In the spring of that year he went to Omaha, Neb., to study medicine in the medical college of that city, from which he graduated March 26, 1885. Coming to Salt Lake City in August, 1889, his ability as a physician and surgeon soon became a household word and his medical services were wanted by all classes of people. In 1893, and again in 1898-99, he left his extensive practice for the purpose of taking post-graduate courses at the Medical College in New York City.

Bro. Dalby was assistant surgeon of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1891 to 1896, when the segregation of the Union Pacific and Oregon Short Line Railroads occurred. He was appointed Health Commissioner of Salt Lake City by Mayor R. N. Baskin October 2, 1894. Which office he resigned January 15, 1898; the resignation, however, was not accepted until the following first day of March. He was married to Miss Fredonia Maud Rives in St. Paul’s Chapel, Salt Lake City, October 1, 1898.

Bro. Dalby being a Virginian by birth is in politics a Democrat, but ever since he has become a citizen of Utah has laid political party affiliations aside and is a brave and courageous defender of the pure American home and the separation of church and State.

As a Mason Bro. Dalby was ever true to his trust, always using his best endeavors to maintain the high standard the Craft had obtained in Utah. He was initiated in Aztlan Lodge No. 1, Prescott, Arizona, August 18, 1883, passed on the 23th day of the same month, and was raised the following day. He affiliated with our Argenta Lodge No. 3, June 2, 1891, was Junior Warden on the Lodge in 1892, and its Master during the years 1893, 1894 and again in 1898. He was an ideal Master, and the Lodge prospered under his administration.

In the Grand Lodge of Utah he was appointed Grand Marshal, January 18, 1893; was elected Deputy Grand Master January 16, 1895, and Grand Master January 16, 1896. While he was Grand Master he constituted a new Lodge—a Masonic ceremony that has happened in Utah but eight times since the existence of the Grand Lodge, now nearly thirty years—and also to dedicate a new Masonic Hall at Salt Lake City, March 19,1896, which was the grandest Masonic event that ever occurred in the State. Bro Dalby is a member of the Jurisprudence Committee since 1898; is Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Maine since October 20, 1894, and was elected an honorary member of the Masonic Veteran Association of the Pacific Coast October 13, 1897, His Lodge number is 171, Grand Lodge number 1068.

The Capitular Degrees were conferred upon Bro. Dalby in Utah Chapter No. 1, R.A.M., as follows: M. M., June 10; P. M., June 13; M E. M., June 14; R. A., June 17, 1891. Was Excellent Scribe in 1892. Since June 23, 1899, he is a member of Bellevue Chapter No. 7, at Omaha, Neb.
He is a member of Utah Commandery No. 1, K. T., Salt Lake City, in which he was made a companion of the Red Cross May 12th. and a Knight Templar May 19, 1892. He served as Captain General in 1893 and as Generalisimo in 1894.

He received of the A. A. S. R. from the fourth to the thirty-second Degree, inclusive, in 1894.

Obituary

“Brother Dalby was born in Lancaster County, Virginia, April 8, 1859, and died in Salt Lake City, September 7, 1903, aged 44 years and 7 months. His full history may be found in the `Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Utah for 1901. He was made a Mason in Azrlan Lodge No. 1, Prescott, Arizona in the year 1883; affiliated with Argenta Lodge No. 3, Salt Lake City, June 2, 1991; was Junior Warden in 1992, and Master during the years 1893, 1894 and 1898. He was appointed Grand Marshal of the Grand Lodge of Utah January 18, 1893; was elected Deputy Grand Master January 16, 1895, and Grand Master January 16, 1896; was a member of the Jurisprudence Committee from 1898 to the day of his death, and filled many other positions of honor in Lodge and Grand Lodge, always with credit to himself and the brethren whom he so freely served. He was made a Royal Arch Mason in Utah Chapter No. 1, and a Knight Templar in Utah Commandery No. 1, both of Salt Lake City, and received the degree of the Scottish Rite up to and including the thirty-second. He took a lively and active interest in all things pertaining to Free Masonry in all its phases and made his influence felt in all efforts for the promotion of the general good of the Craft.

“Who is there among us that has not felt the glow of satisfaction when the door of the Lodge room opened to the quite, unostentatious entrance of the good brother, whenever the arduous duties of his profession permitted him to visit among those he loved so well to meet?

“Where is there a brother who has not listened with delight to his manly utterances whenever the interests of his Lodge, its members or of Masonry in general impelled him to speak?

“A Brother he was indeed to all the Lodge most dear; it mattered not to him whether you were dressed in the finest broadcloth or in the humblest garb, the heart of a true man and Mason went out to you with the hand he extended.

“Generous beyond the average of mankind, his deeds of unheralded charity were always done with the right hand to the entire ignorance of the left, and the world may never know how many a prayer went up for his recovery from the humble homes of the poor of this city, whose hearthstones he had gladdened with his skillful, unremunerated services, nor the silent, honest tears that were shed in those same homes, when their inmates learned that the inexorable decree had been issued and there was no hope. Brother Dalby had the happy faculty to do and say the kindest things in the kindest way; he seamed to want to emulate the wish of George Herbert, that he might so live that he could place to his credit a least one kind act every day of his life; he was a noble, manly, upright man and Mason, a hater of shams, a lover of the truth and of honesty of purpose. His voice was as music to the ears of those who knew him best, and his smile sent a thrill of joy to the heart.

“May Evergreen like Ivy encradle his memory in the hearts of all his brethren, so that they my emulate his good deeds and cultivate his many virtues, so that when the great day for all of us shall come, our last prayer may be that we may be ushered into the Heavenly Circle, where our dear brother has gone, for there we know none but the good can enter.

“Brother Dalby was married October 1, 1898, in St. Paul’s Chapel, Salt Lake City, to Miss Frederica Maud Rivers, a most estimable young lady, and to her and the two beautiful orphan boys he has left behind him we extend our heartfelt condolence for their great loss. We feel that no words of ours can assuage their deep grief, and time alone can in a measure temper the wind to the shorn lambs, and together with a firm reliance upon the wisdom and goodness of Divine Providence enable the stricken widow to nerve herself to the task of bringing up those little jewels to a standard of excellence which shall emulate the example of their honored father and reflect credit upon her noble character.”