Sources

The family 'parchment'. Photo supplied Sep 2026; my transcription is notes/manuscript-transcription.md. Cites Banks's Dormant and Extinct Peerage and Dugdale's Baronage.

Typed layout of the lower half of S01 (from the Viscount's children down) with ??? for illegible words. Embedded scans extracted to sources/images/parchment-scan-01..05.png.

Person-by-person notes from the Viscount's children to John Hugh Browne; adds dates, paintings and Sybil Dron's recollections. Says it continues from separate 'Howard (1100-1680)' and 'Stafford (890-1693)' genealogies and leads into a 'Paton' genealogy (none of the three supplied).

Property history of Beacon Hill: Sybil Dron's memories; a newspaper article of 22 Jul 1978; land titles 1851-1972; the 1863 building contract; the 1864 court case; leases; the 1937 sale to Wallace Dron. Embedded maps and the 1937 tender notice extracted to sources/images/.

Entry 'Stafford of Maine' (begins with Hugh Stafford m. 1746).

Anne/Mary Berkeley (b. c.1686) m. 1705 Henry Stafford (later Stafford-Howard) (c.1688-1743), son of Hon. Francis Stafford-Howard (d. 1708); 'had no surviving issue'.

Hon. Francis Howard (d. 1708), Groom of the Bedchamber to James II, m. Eleanor Stanford (d. 1707) of New Inn, co. Stafford.

IDs are recorded per person in people.csv (familysearch_id). Treat as leads; volunteer-built.

1852 cob house by Edward Green; family arrived on the Lord Worsley 3 May 1862; 653 acres bought 25 Aug 1862 for £3000 from Edward Webby.

Lists children and grandchildren.

Mother of Heather (Mrs Bruce Dron).

June Dron 2nd in Form Vb.

B. G. Dron's bull 'Beacon Hill Topnotch' 1st.

B. G. and [H.] Dron, 'Beacon Hill', Hope: pedigree Jerseys.

Hope School 125th, March 1980; secretary Mrs H. Dron, Beacon Hill.

'Baylea' stud of Mr D. Bay, Wairakau Road, Te Aroha.

David Bay, of Te Aroha.

Arrived on the Lady Nugent 10 May 1850 aged 11.

Major R. M. Paton, late of the Bengal Horse Artillery.

Death of Major Paton; Plymouth Brethren.

W. D. Dron (Hope) sheep 1932; June Dron (Hope) 1937; Bruce Dron Ryelands 1940.

Family 'descended from the mediaeval Dukes of Buckingham'.

Standard, well-documented royal and comital descents.

"No European descent from antiquity is accepted as established." Doda as Arnoald's daughter is Settipani's hypothesis (Kelley proposed descent through Itta, wife of Pepin of Landen, instead); Ansbert and Blithild are probably mythical.

"...Bedwig of Sceaf; that is, the son of Noah, who was born in Noah's ark: Lamech, Methusalem, Enoh, Jared, Malalahel, Cainion, Enos, Seth, Adam the first man, and our Father, that is, Christ." Other manuscripts have Woden son of Frealaf instead of Frithuwald.

Genesis 5 gives the patriarchs and their ages; Genesis 10:2-3 names Gomer son of Japheth and Riphath son of Gomer.

Sisam: "Few will dissent from the general opinion that the ancestors of Woden were a fanciful development of Christian times." Asser replaces Sceaf with Seth.

¶1696 runs Máel Coluim m. Cináeda ... m. Fergusa m. h-Eircc ... m. Úgaine Máir m. Echach Buadaig m. Duach Ladcrai &rl. ¶22 continues m. Augaine Máir ... m. h-Érimóin ... m. Míled m. Bile ... m. Fóeniusa Farsaid ... Rifad. Gomer Iaféth. Nóe.

Fergus son of Erc, "of the race of Eireamhón", had the Lia Fáil sent from Ireland to be inaugurated on it; Edward I later took the stone from Scone to England.

"Modern scholars believe that the tale is mostly an invention of medieval Irish Christian writers."

Richmond Cemetery, Tasman. Headstone: "Major Robert Mercer Paton, late Bengal H.A., fell asleep October 28th 1901, aged 77 years" and "his wife Maria Paton, died Oct 28th 1907, aged 81 years." Memorial gives his birth as 20 Sep 1824.

Gravestones: Mary, Countess of Stafford, died 13 Jan 1693/4 in her 74th year; Henry, Earl of Stafford, died 27 Apr 1719.

Lord Worsley, steamer, from Sydney: Major and Mrs Paton with Miss, Miss E., Miss J., Masters J., C. and E. Paton, and Miss Young. Six children named; the infant Christina (b. 1861) is not listed.

Christina Jane Paton (1861-1932, Richmond); a child of Major Paton (d. 3 Dec 1870, Richmond); Henry Davidson Paton (d. 15 Jan 1939 per memorial, Waimea West); Arthur Malcolm Paton (d. 16 Jul 1929, Te Awamutu); Maria Heslop (d. Hokitika).

Corrections to manuscript-derived entries are listed with their evidence in the fact-check note.