Family legend had it that Bartholomew Soden was born in Ireland, lived for some time in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), then came to Oregon by way of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). What was his family background? Was he Protestant or Catholic? Was he sent out to Tasmania as a convict? Why did he travel to Hawaii and Oregon? What sort of man was he?
Bartholomew Soden was born in Athlone, Ireland, in November 1807, the son of Thomas Soden and Margaret Perdue. Thomas owned land in Ballinahinch Co. Longford, and property in Athlone itself on Barrack Square, opposite the Castle. The family attended St Peter’s Church. At some time, probably 1819, they moved to Dublin, where Bartholomew and his sister Margaret trained as teachers.
Around 1833, Bartholomew and Margaret sailed to Van Diemen’s Land, where they started teaching in the Government School in Springs, near Launceston. By the following year, they were teaching in the neighbouring village of Evandale. Here, Bartholomew also became the Postmaster and Parish Clerk, and started trading and farming, buying land in nearby Perth.
In 1836, he married Anne Goodall, a governess who had arrived in 1835 as an assisted immigrant on the Charles Kerr to go into service for Mr Cox at a salary of £16. Anne’s brother and sister followed her to Van Diemen’s Land and also settled in Evandale. Margaret Soden married Samuel Johnson, who was working as a carpenter at Clarendon House, owned by the Cox family.
Bartholomew and Anne had seven children, of whom three boys died very young. The Sodens initially attended the established church – they were married in the parish church in Launceston. Subsequently church services and marriages were conducted in their own school house in Evandale, until two new permanent churches were built, when the Sodens joined the Presbyterian church rather than the Church of England.
In 1848, Bartholomew and Anne had their portraits painted by C.H.T. Costantini. He was an ex-convict, and had become a fashionable painter. Around the same time, Costantini painted a portrait of local landowner Kennedy Murray – who had married Anne’s sister Hannah – and scenes of Evandale.
By the late 1840s, conditions for teachers had changed with the increased influence of the established church – a new school had opened in Evandale in 1847.
With the discovery of gold in California, the family decided it was time to move on. An account by his granddaughter relates that “Mr. Soden was an enterprising sort of man and conceived the idea of having half a dozen houses, of assorted sizes, built and then taken apart and made ready for shipment to be set up again on his arrival in California, for rental purposes.”
The Sodens and the Johnsons sailed from Hobart on the Eudora at the end of 1849; both Bartholomew and Samuel are described as carpenters on the ship’s manifest. They arrived in Honolulu in March 1850, where they left the ship instead of continuing to San Francisco, perhaps because Margaret Johnson was unwell, or maybe they just got over their gold fever!
At this time in Hawaii, the royal land was being sold off in the Great Mahele; however, only Hawaiians were eligible to purchase land. So, Bartholomew applied for and was granted Hawaiian citizenship within a few days of their arrival. He bought one plot of land and sold it almost immediately to Warren Goodale – the chief clerk who had approved his citizenship application. This plot is the site of the current Honolulu bus station. Bartholomew then bought another plot near the river, in what is now Chinatown. He took up an appointment as teacher in the Oahu Charity School for English-speaking pupils of foreign nationals.
Probably they sold those houses that had been destined for the California gold fields – with increased numbers of European settlers and a fashion amongst native Hawaiians for wooden houses rather than huts, there would have been a ready market for them. Samuel Johnson, indeed, established a successful business in Honolulu as a carpenter and builder.
After 18 months, the lure of free land claims in Oregon prompted Bartholomew to move on again. He left Anne to sort out their affairs in Hawaii, and sailed via San Francisco to Oregon. Here he changed his citizenship yet again to American, filed a land claim in Marion County, and sent for his wife and children.
Anne sold off their land in three parts – one of the purchasers was Samuel Johnson – and made a substantial profit on the sale. She and the children took the Louisiana to Astoria, another boat to St Helens, then the Lot Whitcomb to Willamette Falls (Oregon City). The Lot Whitcomb was a fast, new paddle steamer, and they must have been amongst her first passengers.
The family soon sold their first plot in Marion County and took up another claim in Spring Valley, Polk County. They attended the local Baptist Church, and Bartholomew raised cows, sheep and horses.
Anne died in 1862 of tuberculosis. Bartholomew Soden died in 1865, aged 58. His son-in-law Alfred Hovenden administered his estate, and the land was sold off and subsequently divided. The livestock and farm equipment were sold to neighbouring land-owners, and the surviving children inherited money from the estate. The inventory also shows that Bartle had some of the personal items – including a panther skin!
The site of the Soden farm is now a youth camp with some open fields, an old barn, and trails through trees for hiking and riding. The churchyard where Bartholomew lies beside his wife and daughter is on top of a hill overlooking scenic farmland, a beautiful and peaceful spot.