Rev. John Blakely Dales was born on August 6, 1815, in Kortright, New York.

He attended the Temple Hill Academy, New York and graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York in 1835. He pursued theological studies at Newburgh Seminary, Ohio and was ordained an Associate Reformed Presbyterian minister in 1839. In 1840, he became pastor of the Second United Presbyterian (formerly First Associate Reformed) Church in Philadelphia and served in this position until his death. He was an editor of Christian Instructor, 1844-1878; professor of Pastoral Theology at Newburgh Theological Seminary, 1867-1876; Secretary of Board of Foreign Missions of the Associate Reformed Church; member of Board of Directors in Allegheny Theological Seminary, 1881-1891; member of Board of Managers of the Philadelphia Bible Society, and for many years its president, and secretary of the Presbyterian Historical Society. He was also a frequent contributor to periodical literature. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1854 from Muskingum College, Ohio and of Doctor of Laws in 1888 from Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.

In 1840, he married Hannah Leiper Herron (1817-1841). In 1843, he married Elizabeth Dickson (1813-1846) and in 1856, he married Eliza Jane Dunlap (1813-1887). He died on August 21, 1893, in Chautauqua, New York.