The Sodens of Beaghey, Kilnacreeva, Ballyjamesduff & Virginia, Co. Cavan
Behy, Lavey…….
There has been a Soden family presence in Behy since the 1820s and possibly even up to 70 years before that.
Today it is the residence of Eugene Soden and his wife, Maura. Eugene is the son of Benny Soden who initiated the very successful chicken production business which Eugene and his son , Brendan, run to this day, together with their families.
Our branch, of Peter 1878 and Seamus 1919 and Felix 1951, stems also from Behy.
Peter [1878] son of small tenant farmer served his time at the drapery business at Fay’s in Cavan town, London and Dublin. In London he worked with the big Jewish firm Snyders and when he returned to Dublin he worked as head of a department in Arnotts in Henry Street. He became a wealthy man and many have much good to say about him and indeed as is to be expected some bad. I will not dwell on the bad as I had a great love and regard for him. He was one of a kind, a survivor, a success, a great family man in his own very style. I remember him as serious, strict , religious and in his latter years gravely disappointed with the outcome of his life.
After a successful business period in Cavan, the burden of his commitments forced him to sell up in 1943 and move to Dublin where he bought a public house in Stoneybatter and finished the rearing of his family. They moved to live in St. Pappins Road, Ballymun till his death in 1961.
Peter educated his daughters, whenever he could, the boys, Peter Jnr. And Seamus , my father, your grandfather , were left to their own devices.
Daddy [Seamus] went into the drink business , working in public houses , travelling as a representative for different drink companies ending up as area representative for Fitzgerald and Co., Wine & Spirit distributors, Westmoreland St. Dublin for the Leinster area. Like his father before him he as deeply involved in the church work and politics. Seamus died in 1986 in Dublin. His mother, Christine, died in 1967. She and Mary and Peggy, their daughters are buried in the Soden plot in Killygarry Cemetery. Nora is buried in the same graveyard.
Peter Soden Jnr. also lived with his wife, Alice McGrath, on St. Pappins Road. He too worked in the Dringks Industry as a Representative and had four children, Paul, Margaret, Kathleen and Christine. They attended the 2000 Reunion in Sligo.
THE Sodens of Kilnacreeva, Cavan, Ireland and Kansas, USA
Map of Kilnacreeva [cill na craoibhe] and web address
Kilnacreeva lies in the parish of Larah , about 280 acres, and from this parcel of land have come some remarkable people with very interesting stories. The Sodens are recorded here in the Griffiths Valuation [1837] and the Tithe Applotment Books [1824]. Two people are the main source for information on family links with Kilnacreeva and Kansas are Pat Maguire and the late Fr. Bernard Donnelly, who was responsible for so many from the townland going to Kansas.
Sodens are recorded in the parish of Larah as early as 1804. However with Fr. Bernhard’s encouragement to come to America, i.e. Kansas, we see that after a number of years Pat, Michael and John Soden travelled there and having worked in construction for a number of years, they did well for themselves. They took many of their siblings with them leading to descendants as Steve Soden and his family who returned recently to Cavan in 2015, and Jack Soden, founder of Gracelands, amongst them. They got involved in the politics of the day with the Democratic Party and they contributed to the construction of the Kansas City Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and as we see here in the erection of this fine mausoleum to Pat Soden. The ancestors of the Kilnacreeva Sodens are buried in the graveyard at Lower Lavey.
More information is to be obtained from Pat Maguire, son of Rosie Soden of Kilnacreeva. There is according to Pat a monument to Fr. Bernard Donnelly at Kilnacreeva acknowledging his work for his countymen and women.
Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan & Co. Cork
The Sodens of Ballyjamesduff – of this branch I know almost nothing. Some of their number came to live in Dublin on the northside in Whitehall. I have only met one member and I was very young at the time and had no interest in family history at the time. I hope soon to have more information about this branch. Likewise though I know of them I have never met Sodens of Cork city and county.
Virginia, Lurgan, Aughadrung, Mullagh,………..
Νοtes on the Sodens of Virginia , Co. Cavan
The townland of Virginia [227 hectares] is in the civil parish of Lurgan [11,300 hectares] has a very long association with the Soden name. The families were of both religious denominations, Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland.
The Sodens have had a presence in the area of Virginia, Co. Cavan or the parish of Lurgan or Killinkere as it is sometimes known, since certainly the earliest record of the Protestant Census of 1766. There was also a strong relationship through marriage and fostering /adoption established on a number of occasions between the Sodens and the Kelletts, the latest being as far as I know of that between Solomon Soden and his two siblings, Ellen and Anne and the Kelletts. Both branches , Catholic and Protestant , intermarried in Virginia in that the Kelletts married into the family of Robert Dawson Soden who later emigrated to NSW, Australia. That was the Protesant branch, while the Catholic Kelletts in Virginia took care of Solomon and his two siblings when their father James Soden died in 1890, Charles Kellett married Margaret Tormey and cared for the three children. His eldest son, also Solomon, died only in 2017 in Hobart, Tasmania.
These three Sodens, Solomon, Ellen and Anne, were from the marriage of James Soden of Aughnadrung, next to the townland of Mullagh, in the parish of Lurgan/Virginia. Three families lived there, the Sodens, the Kelletts and the Tormeys in neighbouring townlands.
When James Soden of Aughadrung died in 1890, his wife Margaret Tormey Soden married Charles Kellett in 1899 and the three children lived in the home of their new step-father. The direct descendants of this branch from Aughadrung, Co. Cavan live today in Rosses Point Sligo, he being a grandfather of George Soden [b. 1915] of Dublin and Sligo.
I include here as we are dealing with the Virginia Sodens some notes I have gathered from Cemeteries in Virginia and the parish of Lurgan which record Soden burials.
In loving memory of, David Soden died, 3rd March 1946, aged 85 years, and his beloved wife, Catherine died, 14th October 1947 aged 70 years, also their loving daughter, Agnes, died, 2nd February 1958 aged 42 years, Catherine O’Rourke died, 14th Aug. 1965? and son, David, died, 12th Dec. 1975; Annie Stephens, died, 24th April 1925, 86 yrs. also their son, Austin Soden, died, 16th February 1989 aged 69? and his wife, Marcella, died, 9th Feb. 1997, aged 69 yrs. Erected by, their loving son, David.
Born 1840 Annie Stephens died 24 April, 1925 at 86 yrs;
Born 1860 David Soden , died 3rd March, 1946 aged 85 yrs;
Born 1883 Catherine Soden, nee …….died 14th October, 1947 aged 70 yrs
Born 1916 Agnes Soden,m daughter , died 2nd February, 1958 aged 42 yrs
Born …… David, son, died 12 December, 1975
Born 1920 , son, Austin Soden,died 16 February, 1989 aged 69
Born 1928 m wife of Austin, Marcella, died 9th February, 1997 aged 69 yrs
Headstone in Virginia graveyard erected by their loving son, David
Two of the Sodens of Main Street, Virginia, Katie and Austin , attended the Soden Reunion of 2000 held in Sligo, Ireland in June, 2000.