John William Fenton

This is something that blogs might (should?) be good at. From The Telegraph:

Researchers in Japan have appealed to readers of The Daily Telegraph to help shed light on the fate of the British soldier who gave the country its national anthem.

Toshio Akiyama, a conductor and head of the Japanese Band Directors' Association, has spent more than a decade trying to find out what became of John William Fenton.

But the trail ends after the soldier left a teaching post with the Army in Scotland in 1883.

Fenton arrived in Japan in 1868 as bandmaster of the 10th Regiment of Foot 1st Battalion in Yokohama.

When the battalion left in 1871, he stayed for another six years as director of the Japanese navy band, the country's first, and the band of the imperial court. The Japanese now want to locate his grave and find out if he has any living relatives or descendants, whom they hope to invite to Japan.

...

Today band music is a strong tradition in Japan with close to half a million people registered with professional, amateur and school bands.

"It all started with Fenton," said Mr Akiyama. "When he took on the very first band they didn't even have instruments.

"We consider him to be our father and we all want to know how our father died and where his grave is."

Fenton was born in Kinsale, County Cork, in 1828. His father was a sergeant in the British Army and he was baptised into the Church of Ireland.

His first wife, Annie Maria, died in Japan but he later married an American, Jane Pilkington, while in Yokohama.

After leaving Japan he went to Bureau County, Illinois, with his wife and a daughter, Jessie, from his first marriage.

But he appears not to have settled there, writing unsuccessfully to the Japanese government asking for a job before heading to Scotland in 1880.

"He lived in so many countries and travelled so far that we can't guess where he went after Scotland," said Mr Akiyama, who contacted The Daily Telegraph after it published a story on Fenton last year.

"But it is my sincere wish to find out what became of Fenton in my lifetime."

As I say, this should be the sort of thing blogs are good at helping with. The interconnectedness, the linking, the large reach, huge audience. It might just be possible to find out what did happen to him.

In 1883 John William Fenton would have been 53. His death could have come any time after that, up to say, 1910 at the outside? Jessie Fenton we don’t have an age for but say born sometime after 1850? In the English speaking world at that time there was a well developed system of birth and death certificates, all centralized by country. Jessie’s birth is roughly between the time of my great great-grandmother’s and great grandmother’s and I, like so many other families who have done even the most basic geneological research, know who they were, their place of birth, name and so on (Callao in Peru for one of them).

So it’s entirely possible that someone out there knows that they are either John or Jessie’s descendant. It’s also entirely possible that those with access to any of the various birth and death certificate registries could do a quick search.

Another research route would be via the Scottish Regiments and David at Carbarfeidh would be a good place to start. I think he was actually a band master as well.

Anyone with an interest in such little puzzles want to spread this question around a little? See if we can create a meme, find out precisely what did in fact happen to Mr. Fenton? See if there are any living descendants?

I’m sure there must be other possible routes of investigation.  Were there military pensions back then? Who would have paid it? Do those records still exist?