Japanese research foreign residents

[CuriousKat]

Hello,
I'm after some help, i am looking for records relating to a gentleman who died in Hyogo in 1889, he was British but had made Hyogo his home, he was very wealthy at the time of his death & made provisions for his orphaned child to be returned to the UK to be looked after (This was with strangers!). There is no British will, no British death certificate nor for that matter a British birth certificate for the child born in Japan in 1878. My goal is to find out how his business's were wound down, he owned property that must of been dealt with & who how was he able to set up his 11 year child for life? He was lived a very affluent lifestyle living of his father's estate.
The Japanese are very secretive regarding records & i have no clue what i am looking for? There does not seem to be a Japanese genealogy site, i thought maybe someone specializing in historical family law??? But again i can't seem to find anything (google does not always have the answer! lol)

Hope you can give me some fresh ideas on places to look.
I have posted this subject in other forums before with no luck.;(

[ElizabethHerts]

Hi Kat.

What was his name and what businesses did he have?
Do you have any idea when he was born and have you found him on UK censuses?

[ElizabethHerts]

FMP has some British nationals who died in Japan in 1889.

[CuriousKat]

Hi Elizabeth, He was Called Captain Edward Byrne & was allegedly born in Liverpool in 1823, He was never on any UK census records as he was at sea for all of them (Merchant Navy) & around the 1860's he decided to make Japan his home. He was a Broker/Merchant had his fingers in lots of pies inc Kobe Gas Co & Kobe Ice Co.

[ElizabethHerts]

Have you checked this one out?

First name(s) EDWARD
Last name BYERS
Gender Male
Birth year -
Death year 1886-90
Place HYOGO
Country JAPAN
Record source GRO Consular Death Indices (1849 to 1965)
Year range 1886-1890
Volume 8
Page 1171
Record set British nationals died overseas 1818-2005

The surname is different, but not too different for it to be an error in recording or of information provided.

[ElizabethHerts]

Ooh, gosh, if you click on the image it says BYRNE Edward Hyogo 8 1171!

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fovs%2fdcon%2f000718&parentid=bmd%2fovs%2fdcon%2f000718%2f026

[ElizabethHerts]

Byres was the entry above, so they have mixed it up in the transcription.

[ElizabethHerts]

A newspaper article in 1879 states he was a Marine Surveyor.

[CuriousKat]

Hi Elizabeth,wow thank you,
he did so many things! Drats typically i have an ancestry subscription rather than FMP & all the times i have used FMP i couldn't see a death! I have some records of him buying ships, he was on the Kobe Municipal council, he was a president for many years at the Kobe club! It seems odd that a man of his stature & i can't find a trail for him!

[kiterunner]

Here is a link to the main Cyndi's List page for Japan:
http://www.cyndislist.com/japan/

[ElizabethHerts]

Do you know anything about his wife?

[kiterunner]

And I assume this is your old thread on Rootschat? Anyway, worth us reading through:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=710864.0

[ElizabethHerts]

Just for the record there is this marriage in Japan, but not Edward Byrne:

First name(s) PATRICK
Last name BYRNE
Year range 1866-1870
Marriage place KANAGAWA
Country JAPAN
Record Source GRO Consular Marriages (1849-1965)
Volume 4
Page 603
Record set British nationals married overseas 1818-2005

Byrne is a surname that very frequently has an Irish connection. Liverpool would also make an Irish connection possible.

[CuriousKat]

Ooh, gosh, if you click on the image it says BYRNE Edward Hyogo 8 1171!

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fovs%2fdcon%2f000718&parentid=bmd%2fovs%2fdcon%2f000718%2f026

Hi Elizabeth,
Are these the same records here?
http://www.familyrelatives.com/search/search_browseoverseas.php?page=8&reqAlp=B&event=Death&datatype=GRO%20CONSULAR%20DEATH%20INDEX&year=%

I've looked but i must be having a moment as i can't see anything.

[ElizabethHerts]

Yes, they are the British Consular records.

[Merry]

There's a 20-year-old Edward Byrne on the 1841 census in Liverpool (Gosling Place) who was recorded as a sailor, but he was born in Ireland (according to the census!).

[CuriousKat]

Just for the record there is this marriage in Japan, but not Edward Byrne:

First name(s) PATRICK
Last name BYRNE
Year range 1866-1870
Marriage place KANAGAWA
Country JAPAN
Record Source GRO Consular Marriages (1849-1965)
Volume 4
Page 603
Record set British nationals married overseas 1818-2005

Byrne is a surname that very frequently has an Irish connection. Liverpool would also make an Irish connection possible.

I think he told porky pies on his mates & masters certificates & didn't want to be thought of is Irish. He listed an address as of the top of my head as ? Islington in Liverpool on the 1851 census at 16? Islington was living a James Bermes (Byrne) from Ireland with his wife Elizabeth, backtracking them to the 1841 census you find all of their children were born in Ireland & they had a son called Aiden coincidently Edward's son was also called Aden! Could all be coincidence!! I could not trace any of this family other than the parents after 1841.

[CuriousKat]

Do you know anything about his wife?

No just one mention of her on the sons UK Naturalization record in 1906 in which he said she was called Tonyama Tetsu. I am slowly coming to the possibility that Aden may not of been the birth child of Edwards, possibly a foundling or ward. Having no pictures of him either i am unable to confirm if he was half asian.

[CuriousKat]

And I assume this is your old thread on Rootschat? Anyway, worth us reading through:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=710864.0 Yes :-)

[Janet]

Hello Kat. I haven't really taken this website in, but at first sight I wonder if this is the product of your work, and if not whether you have mined it for clues?
http://www.meiji-portraits.de/meiji_portraits_b.html#20090527093402531_1_2_3_104 _1
I was led to it by searching "Tonyama Tetsu". It's in German with translation into English, and includes photos.

[Merry]

For what it's worth, on the 1939 Register Aden says his dob is 1 July 1877. His wife's is 1 Mar 1882. He is a coal canvasser and their address is 78 Princess Street , Altrincham, Cheshire.

[CuriousKat]

Hello Kat. I haven't really taken this website in, but at first sight I wonder if this is the product of your work, and if not whether you have mined it for clues?
http://www.meiji-portraits.de/meiji_portraits_b.html#20090527093402531_1_2_3_104 _1
I was led to it by searching "Tonyama Tetsu". It's in German with translation into English, and includes photos.

Hi Janet, I worked with Bernd & gave him all the information & the photo that i had managed to find on Edward, he had basic d. :)details on Edward from the resident books. He is a lovely chap & very helpful

[CuriousKat]

For what it's worth, on the 1939 Register Aden says his dob is 1 July 1877. His wife's is 1 Mar 1882. He is a coal canvasser and their address is 78 Princess Street , Altrincham, Cheshire.

I went cross eyed looking through the Kobe baptisms on Ancestry hoping to find him, i even looked for dates that matched his DOB with different names but came up empty.

[CuriousKat]

Thanks to Elizabeth i now have a British death certificate for him! I have a contact in Japan who can help but as the Japanese are very private unless we know exactly what & where we want to look for a record then he can't search aimlessly (if that makes sense?) So the death certificate turned up & the chap who registered Edwards death is Alexander Milne, it also looks like he took over the business too. Alexander was born in Perth Scotland 1844 & died Kobe 1909