I wrote of this 5 years ago, but this television series program "Who do you think you are" - both the UK and the Australian versions, has returned to the fore.
It traces specific identitie’s pasts, to find out where they came from and the juicier the characters in their past the more interesting, in so far as the production on Michael Parkinson was stopped as his ancestors proved not interesting enough.
Not long ago I watched the program on the then London Mayor Boris Johnson first aired in 2008 (now UK Prime Minister) and he was able to find long lost uncles in German castles. Almost all of the English series have someone in the respective families killed or wounded in WWI such was the traumatising of that cataclysmic event upon the nation.
The Australian series takes on numbers of our entertainment, media, sport and political characters and it's interesting to learn what ships their forebears arrived in Australia on, and how these persons developed their lives, who they married, the numbers of children, where they ended up and the like.
In the 1960's well before any of this became fashionable my late great uncle Thomas Blakeley Tronson who lived in Ipswich Queensland professionally traced our Tronson family ancestry and this is now well documented.
My ministry logo holds part of the Tronson family crest (France). This Tronson family crest's Latin verse is 'Virtue before Glory' and we have an original partridge 1792 authenticated Family Tree which traces the line back to France, along with photographs of paintings of these distinguished gentlemen.
G A Tronson, a lawyer, defended Mary Antoinette, another Lovis Tronson was the Financial Advisor (The Treasurer) to the Cabinet of Lious IV. These Tronson's can be viewed on this site:
The name Tronson was originally from Norway and this section of the family migrated to France, so the story goes, for religious freedom in the eleventh century. The French Tronson's were on the most part Heuganolts (Protestants), escaped and ended up in both England and Ireland.
There is an extensive list in the genealogy from the sixteen hundreds to me (a Minister) today who entered the Church, and in that period this was nothing unusual, as one son in each generation entered the church – in this period of their history, it happened to be Presbyterian. Four generations.
Australian Tronson's
Four Tronson sons' migrated to Australia for the Gold Rush in the late 1860s, all four made good, two returned to the mother country and two settled. The Australian Tronson's are traced back to these two. My great grand father T B (Thomas Blakeley) Tronson found his way to Gympie where he established a drapery store servicing the mining industry. He had two wives and 21 children and at least one other illegitimate child (a court case reveals this much).
He sent his eldest son Walter (my grand-father) to Agricultural College, only open to the wealthier families of the time and when T B Tronson was given a farm near Tewantin (Noosa) for a bad debt, Walter (his eldest) who had married, took on that farm. My cousin still retains this family farm. Walter's diary and stories can be read at the Walter link.
My late father Seymour Tronson was the fourth of five, the second son, and when the Queensland Government was looking for the sons of dairy farmers to take up selections at Crediton (Eungella, the mountain range west of Mackay) in the mid 1930's, Seymour a 17 year old took up a 200 acre Block 33. Seymour's diary and stories may be read the the Seymour link.
Other sides
My wife's side is a different story. My wife Delma of 44 years history is that of a first fleeter convict (Everingham). First Fleeters' were once degraded, but 200 years later, highly regarded.
Delma is of convict stock, but when I first cast my eye on her in 1971, then knowing nothing of this, I felt there was something about her - alluring and clearly dangerous. Our four children therefore are First Fleeter descendants as are our grand-children.
A different energy
But there is an entirely different energy associated with all of this, and that is that of the Spirit of the Lord in generation after generation where it "could not be said" as in Judges 2 verse 10 "there arose another generation which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works He had done for Israel."
Faithful has been those who have come and gone before me who have taken the Scriptures to their hearts and have faithfully transmitted the story of Jesus' death on the Cross for our sin and His resurrection to life for our faith unto Salvation. We are indeed truly blessed and have a bountifully rich heritage in those things that last.
This is my heritage over these past four hundred centuries. Even as a child I knew that the Lord had his hand upon my life in His service.