Finding descendants of British great grand uncle who emigrated to Australia?

Question

From Finding UK record(s) of British great-grandfather with children born in Japan during 1890s? I have received the information of the person with the possibility of great-grandfather.

However, I have a bigger problem from here which is whether he really is my great-grandfather because there was a brother to him in the information.

If I can find his brother's descendants, then I may be able to learn the kinship with DNA testing.

How can I find the living descendants of this great grand uncle?

I was born and grew up in Japan where research is easy for me but I do not know the best way in Britain and Australia.

C.Z.Ede is the name of the candidate for my great-grandfather and his information can be found at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VB6B-BD9

There is also a Mr Peter Zohrab site (http://zohrabfamily.atwebpages.com/ztbltre3.html) which mentions "Sydney Cuthbert Ede, Eagleville Station, Talbotville, Victoria, Australia".

Mr Peter Zohrab from that site suggested that I look for descendants of Sydney Cuthbert Ede in Australia or New Zealand. However, I have not yet found any. I am also inquiring at the church in which he was baptized.

Answer 1

Unless you follow PolyGeo's good advice and strike lucky in Ancestry.com, and/ or Cecil Z Ede's will shows anything, you are going to have great difficulty proving your theory.

In the Consular Births Abroad records, there are no Ede registrations in Japan in the right period. Unlike births in England, you did not have to register a birth with the British Consulate, so it is possible that any births were not registered.

The brothers were:

• Edward Dutton Ede may have emigrated to the USA (1910 US Census, North Carolina).
• Cecil Zohrab Ede does not show up in English census records and appears to have died in China as mentioned before.
• Edgar Vivian Ede became a sailor (Masters and Mates records, ancestry.com). Who knows where he ended up.
• Sydney Cuthbert Ede went to Australia.

Answer 2

I am assuming from your question that you are trying to make contact with living cousins who descend from one or other of the two brothers from who your research indicates that you descend.

If I were in a similar position, and being bound as we are by not being able to mention potentially living people (i.e. anyone born within the last 100 years and not demonstrably deceased), what I would do is to use the Member Connect facility of Ancestry.com.

I often use this to make contact with distant cousins when I am trying to locate old photographs, vital records, etc in which we, and few others, have a common interest.

If you do not subscribe to Ancestry.com then there may be other websites that offer a similar service.

If you decide to make contact with such living potential cousins I recommend being very sensitive that they may or may not welcome unexpected contenders for family members.