The parchment illustrated where this Uncle's and his mutual male link was, some five generations back.
His distant uncle who gave him the parchment happened to be a bachelor all his life and for whatever reason, he found a liking to Mark Tronson and they became friends and would regularly write and consult each other.
The Tronson family line and this parchment can be found at: bushorchestra.com/family_logo/LogoStory.html
Mark Tronson continues the story –
A summary of part of the introductions states that Trondkheim, the ancient capital of Norway, was the cradle of the Tronson clans. In the middle of the 10th century dwelt a Norwegian land-owning family named "Tronson" whose lands were along the coast to which they had ready access to outside news and events. This indicates they were both educated and somewhat wealthy.
In Norway today, the surname Tronson is very common, as there were many people who took their family name from the place where they lived. Our son visited this area of Norway three years ago. When he was at Customs he was welcomed "home" although he had an Australian passport.
In our particular family line, a descendant, through a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, joined a groundswell of those throughout Europe in the 1400s and 1500s [the Reformation era] who moved to France so that they could follow Christianity without fear for their person or property.
At that time, France had limited freedoms granted to Protestants by Catherine de Medici. Later, in 1598, there was the Edict of Nantes granted by Henry IV of France, which gave Protestants (known as Huguenots at that time) more rights than was common in other European countries, including safe asylum for refugees from the Inquisition.
Information gleaned from the family descriptions in our Parchment indicates that the Tronsons' did very well for themselves in French society. There are notations of family members as aides and associates of royalty and high officers; and they were granted the 'title' Tronson du Coudray.
One G A Tronson du Coudray, a lawyer, defended Mary Antoinette, sadly he lost the case and she lost her head.
This influx of such freedom-lovers from throughout Europe and in particular Scandinavian countries saw many do very well which created considerable jealousies; which resulted in the Edict being revoked in 1685. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Nantes)
Along with many other Protestants, my ancestors once again moved due to the lack of religious freedom; this time to England. They once again made good, and one fought with William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 when the Irish were defeated.
One of the means by which the English maintained a commitment in Ireland was to award prominent English citizens Estates. With a clear head for leadership, Louis Tronson was awarded the Killeshandra Estates in Country Cavan. These estates had been abandoned and in those times, they were in the province of a gift.
An essential part of the landed gentry of the time was the Estate Chapel and the requirement that a clergyman be employed to minister the "true spiritual values" (Protestantism) and affairs of those who were part of the Estate.
In each of the generations subsequently, one member of each Tronson generation became an ordained Presbyterian Minister in order to effect this important aspect of the Estate.
Four generations later, in 1863 four Tronson brothers migrated to Australia for the Victorian Gold Rush – as did many young Irish men after the total disaster of the Famine of 1846-1850. One of them, Thomas Bleakeley Tronson (T B Tronson) travelled to the Gympie Gold Rush and established a drapery business.
T B Tronson was my great grandfather. His son and his grandson (my grandfather and father) were both farmers in Queensland. My cousin still runs the family farm in this area at Ringwood (between Pomona and Tewantin).
So, after four generations of clergymen in Ireland, I am now the first clergyman in our line after those first three generations in Australia. Whatever else might be said, ever since I was a lad, I felt the call of the Lord upon my life to Christian ministry.
My ministry logo represents this strong Christian heritage taking a part of the 1580 family crest - "Glory before Riches".
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html