The Book of Soden Story is a history source for the Soden family from 1146-1970
History of the Soden Family 1146 – 1970
When I began my family history , my father had been dead a long time….. so began the history of the Coventry Sodens by Ronald Soden in 1992.
I can begin my account of the Soden family history with similar words and like Ronald Soden do regret not having asked my father more about our family in previous generations.
I have had such pleasure in doing this family history not just from learning so much about our forbears but in having met so many interesting people among my Soden contemporaries and in having gotten to know their families and achievements as well.
To my great regret though I never met two people who contributed so much to Soden family history and knew their Sodens and those two were Ronald Soden himself of Aberwysweth, Wales and Kenneth Gould of Essex, England. We corresponded and spoke many times by phone, but never met in real life.
I owe them and many others listed in the acknowledgements a great debt.
In doing this work I wanted to build up a sourcebook on the Soden name for my own and my family’s benefit and for that of future Soden researchers.
A family history is never finished but after thirty years I am taking a pause to present my findings. The first three pages of this are my own personal conclusions based as I see it on the sources presented in the text.
Origins in the United Kingdom
A Source Book
How often have I been asked: Are you Irish? Is that a German name? Was your family English? or Dutch? Well , here is the answer , I believe, or at least part of it. This is intended as a source book for the name Soden in Ireland , and for those Sodens or otherwise , who may have connections in Europe , North America and Australasia or for those many families with Soden connections . This is my gift to my three children , Kristina ,Carla and Lukas at the beginning of this third millennium that they may know more about their family , their place in history and it is my fervent hope that this may provide a good basis at which to begin any research to your Soden background , something I would have dearly loved to have had when I began.
The desire to know something about my ancestors , what they did , where they originally came from,and many other questions were of central importance in pursuing this task .When I approached this subject , I knew how my name was spelt and pronounced and , of course the many misspellings and mispronunciations of the name but little more. My branch hailed from County Cavan in north central Ireland and the existence of the Sligo Sodens was known to us from early childhood. More than that we did not know.
The English Connection
The Irish -English-German link has to be established with certitude but the Irish – English link is without doubt.
Claims as to Huguenot origins I hold to be spurious and unfounded. The Cromwellian link is beyond a doubt the first link the Irish Sodens have with their English cousins in Warwickshire and Oxfordshire.
The First Branch
The origins of the Soden family in Ireland is I believe twofold, both English, the first being centred in the English villages of Swalcliffe, Oxfordshire and Bourton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire. These arrived in Ireland in 1650 with Cromwell and obtaining lands in Grange, Co. Sligo, NW Ireland.
The second came from Rowington, Warwickshire, England at the beginning of the 19th century through the Sodens of Keash, Co. Sligo. The descendants of Francis Soden, a teacher, hired by Lord Crofton, to found a school for the children of that area of Sligo. Francis branch hailed from Rowington, Warwickshire, which was reputed for its Recusancy , that is its opposition to the Established Religion of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. There is the very strong possibility that members of this branch arrived even earlier in the 18th century, a point hinted at by the mention of Honoria/Nora Soden in the Convert Rolls of 1711.
The descendants of the first branch are to be found today in Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Cavan and abroad in Australia, New Zealand, Canada , the USA and , of course, the United Kingdom .
The Second Branch
The second branch has descendants in Cavan, Dublin, Cork and Sligo, in the USA and in the United Kingdom.
The link and date between the Sligo and Cavan branches have been established through the DNA programme with the exact person connection to be determined.
I am of the Cavan Beaghey Sodens related to the Sodens of Keash, Sligo of Rowington, Warwickshire, United Kingdom to whom Kenneth Gould has traced his line back to 1650.
This link will be illustrated later. The origin of the English branch has been well treated by Ronald Soden,Aberwysweth in his work ” The Sodens of Coventry – History of a Warwickshire Family through Six Centuries”. The possibility of a German connection appeared when I came across the mention of German mercenaries in the Calender of State Papers ,1547-1553 of Edward III , who helped John Dudley , the Duke of Warwick to suppress the Ket revolt in neighbouring Leicestershire.
Many of the Sodens of the USA , Canada , Australasia originate in Ireland but also in Germany and England. The earliest in the USA I believe to be Thomas Soden of Marblehead , Massachussetts in 1654 but there has been quite a number of Sodens in the War of Independence , and indeed all the wars with US involvement. The Canadian Sodens have certainly a strong Irish and British origin in Ontario in the 1860s , some of whose direct descendants , I have been very pleased to personally meet in Toronto and St.Catherine’s , Ontario.
The New Zealand Sodens have well-established Sligo connections, through the Davys and Winterscales, though they are fewer in number linking them directly to the generation of Clotworthy and Edward Soden of the late 18th century. Several Australian and Tasmanian Soden families have their origins in Athlone, Ireland at the beginning of the 19th century when they gradually emigrated to the antipodes , but the majority seems to have origins in England,in particular Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. We are all looking forward to the publication of Melanie Bromleys book which will cover the Sodens of Hook Norton, Oxfordshire,UK.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Germany
I find no connection at all between the Irish Branches and the Soden/von Soden families in Germany. There might be a link with England, perhaps as late as the early 19th century. There is certainly a substantial link between some American branches and the German families. The Americans are in the best position to address this connection.
The fact that I professionally have so much to do with the German language and Germany , but especially as Ute , my wife is German and therefore my children also are half-German, these were compelling reasons for me to eventually enquire how could a German name like mine come to be in Cavan and other counties in Ireland.
There are four towns with the name Bad Soden in Central and Southern Germany with links with the families ‘Soden/von Soden’ . There is an old people’s home in Hannover , the Soden Kloster in the Braunschweigerstrasse , a Soden Strasse just north of the Hannover Central Railway station and in the town of Bamberg ,Bavaria , not to mention the endowments of Mauritius von Sode to the Hildesheimer Cathedral still to be seen today and the southern Soden centres particularly , Soden-Fraunhofen , Bad Soden am Taunus , Bad Sooden Allendorff amongst others.
2 German Possibilities
The possibility of the German Mayor in 1500 in London and the presence of German mercenaries fighting for the Duke of Warwick in 1549could prove the keys to establishing any early German connection.
The tendency of the German mercenary to remain in the territory he fought in , gave me cause to believe this may well have happened in this instance.
The German claim made by Julius von Soden in 1912 that a Dietrich vamme Sode , a Hannoverian burgher , was an alderman in London in the year 1500 was most exciting and encouraging.
However,this research opened up exciting new areas of discovery, the well-documented and proud history of the Soden/von Soden families in North,Central and Southern Germany. If for nothing else,the German search was worth this effort and time , especially considering the many connections between our families in Ireland and that part of Germany and the English / German possibilities.
The presence of a German Alderman in London in 1500 , a Hanse burgher;already mentioned , a U-boat commander; an admiral of the German fleet in 1903; an ambassador to China ;a governor of West Africa, these are just a few instances of the contribution of this family to the development of German society in the past.
The Sodens , too , were effected greatly by the economic , political and social climate of the day. They were of many religious and political hues , whether Church of England/Ireland , Roman Catholic , Quakers , Methodist or Free Mason , whether gentry , Socialist , or Social Democrat.
I have been blessed by a number of positive turns in my researches. I believe I may well be the first member of my branch to investigate the family history in Ireland , though not in England , America , Australia or New Zealand.
It was fortunate that so much had been already done by James Soden ,Toronto/Vermont in researching his pedigree in Sligo and Mohill , by Terry Soden in the eighties on his branch in County Cavan , Ireland , by Ronald and Geoffrey Soden in Warwicksire , England and by John Soden,Oregon and Ontario and Dorothy Soden ,Wyebridge ,Ontario.
The World Wars
It is extraordinary that the name is found in both countries simultaneously with a totally different etymological development. I recall in this regard the story of Ronald Soden , when we talked first about Alexander Soden , an Englishman resident in Munich at the outbreak of the First World War , was interned in Germany.
One day there appeared in his cell a member of the German High Command, Baron Max von Soden . The baron and he talked for over one hour in a private cell principally about the possibility of family connections , a conversation that did not understandably go down well with his superiors and colleagues.
They came to the conclusion no immediate connection could be established but since that meeting became very good friends and visited each other often in their respective lands. There is no record of Alexander Soden in Ruheleben Internment Camp , but it is more probable that as he was working in Southern Germany , that he was interned there. The noble contribution of the various Soden families in both World Wars on all sides is evidenced in these following pages. To discover that there were no less than 108 Sodens involved in the military activities of World War was indeed a surprise but to find the heroic sacrifice of the Wincombe Sodens of Oxfordshire , amongst others , in World War Two , the DSO of Ian Scovil Soden and the death of the 3 brothers in action was a proud but very sad moment. The contribution of the Soden family in Great Britain in the legal , military , naval ,clerical and business world can be assessed from the forthcoming pages with some pride.
The Americas
There are a number of disparate branches in North America coming from Ireland , Britain and Germany.We know that the Canadian and some branches in New Jersey, New York , Oregon and Kansas have their origins in Ireland. They come from Carrick-on-Shannon, Cavan,Leitrim and Sligo.
The Thomas Soden of Cambridge , Massachusetts , may well be of English origin , after whom a street has been named in that town. Indeed another street in Oregon city , Wisconsin is named after William Soden , whose life is recounted in the book Times to Remember by Wayne Salisbury .
The Nebraska Sodens originate in Hook Norton , Oxfordshire , England , heading initially to New York , then to Nebraska where they still are. At least one branch is Afro-American , and we know , too , the Cincinnati Soden families have immediate German connections.
The participation of William and Edward Elijah Soden in the breaking of the British blockade was one of the most interesting facts uncovered ,showing the early Sodens were with the American rebels at the earliest stage. The origin of the two brothers has yet to be ascertained.
I hope you will take some joy and pride in the history of your name . This is based on historical fact with the deliberate aim of avoiding myth or legend attached to the name which I believe unwisely distort the serious nature of the project . I hope that to whatever branch of the family you may belong you derive as much enjoyment and interest out of your researches as I have done. I look forward to learning even more of the outcome , deeds and achievements of all members of the Soden family and their relatives.
A number of these have been recounted in the section on Tall Soden Tales, of which I am certain there are many more to come.
The contents of this website https://thesodenstory.com will be uploaded to the Library Archive at www.archive.org under family history where you can also find the excellent Soden Kellogg Melton file. A copy will also be filed with The Society of Genealogists, London
I hope you enjoy and benefit a great deal from the information lodged here.
March, 2023
| bookofsoden@gmail.com This webpage is copyrighted. © 2023 |