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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: Annie65115 on Wednesday 03 November 10 21:26 GMT (UK)
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I've got 3 photos which were probably taken in Victorian times, and in the background is a building with this name/sign along its front.
The family were from Dublin but I can't find any trace of this factory so don't know if the photos were taken there.
Anyone know where this factory was?
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Are you sure the photographs were actually taken in Ireland? with the word Irish in the title wondering if it might actually be somewhere outside Ireland.
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I vaguely remember something about an ad for O'Dea mattresses
there was a slogan of some sort ... will try to remember it
(that's going to bug me now..)
Shane
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found a possible starting point in Thom's 1938...
O'Dea & Co. Ltd, 41 to 46 Stafford St
furniture & bedding manufacturers
factory at : 17-22 Parkgate Street & 68 Jervis St
I think one brand advertised was 'Odearest' - maybe 1970s or 80s ?
Shane
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as aghadowey mentioned I'm not certain a factory in Dublin would need to include Irish in their sign.... maybe they ha a branch in England somewhere ?
1904
O'Dea & Co., wholesale bedding & furniture manufacturers
41 to 46 Stafford St
looks like they were at the same address for quite a while
any chance of posting scans of the photo's ?
The streets might be recognizable..
Shane
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The photos belong to a friend so I'm afraid I don't have copies here to post.
They show a man in a shiny top hat sitting in an open-top horse-drawn carraige, with a couple of small children; the carraige is pulled up by the side of the road, there are iron railings behind and behind those, the factory. The sign on it doesn't look like an advertising sign as such, more as though it's the name of the building. The street wouldn't be recognisable from the picture, I'm sure - nothing else is shown on it.
We can't be certain that the photo was taken in Ireland but there's no evidence of the family being anywhere else in the relevant time period. The man in the carraige looks wealthy; I suspect it was his own carraige, with a uniformed driver and a very well-groomed horse.
The likeliest candidates for being the man in the picture lived around the Ormond Quay area in Dublin; another poss is Alderman Meade (jp, builder, mayor in the 1890s(?)) but I don't know where he lived! - That may not be relevant but it would be nice to pin down this building, in the hope of that leading to a firmer suggestion of who the man might be!
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No sign of the O'Dea business in 1894, and there's no mattress/furniture factory at 41/46 Stafford street ... so maybe that dates the photo to sometime after that.
As far as I can tell the business was set up by a Michael O’Dea ... an obituary to his grandson Denis McCarthy was in the Times earlier this year - see : link (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2010/0809/1224276416849.html)
p.s. Stafford Street was renamed - it's now Wolfe Tone Street
Shane
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There's a Michael O'Dea, furniture manufacturer in 1901 census-
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Arran_Quay/Eblana__Loane__Prince_Patrick__Bessboro_and_Carlisle_Tces____N_C_R__Phoenix_Park/1335400
And I think this is Michael O'Dea in 1911 "Manufacturer of Beds and Furniture"
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Rathmines___Rathgar_West/Orwell_Park/52384
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....
And I think this is Michael O'Dea in 1911 "Manufacturer of Beds and Furniture"
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Rathmines___Rathgar_West/Orwell_Park/52384
...
that's definitely him... he's listed in Thom's 1914 as
Orwell Park 'Creevagh'
Michael O'Dea , and 40 to 45 Stafford street
obviously did well out of the bedding business to own a posh house like that on Orwell park!
Shane
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This doesn't show O'Dea's.. but for comparison, a turn of the century photo of Stafford Street (http://www.nli.ie/glassplates/L_ROY/L_ROY_05943.jpg) (National Library)
Shane
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Had a look at Google maps last night and while the area does, of course, have lots of new buildings and changes the basic layout of the street looks unchanged- not that wide and not the sort of place one would see railings as mentioned are in the photo. However, I did notice that Stafford St. isn't far from Ormond Quay (The likeliest candidates for being the man in the picture lived around the Ormond Quay area in Dublin").
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I think I remember some of the advertising slogans that were driving me mad..
Odearest for the rest of your life..
and
Put your money in a Odearest mattress
Shane
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A store in Parliament street on a corner facing city hall
used to have an animated display in one window for
Odearest mattresses,it consisted of a bed with an odearest
mattress and an old lady stuffing it with money and the legend
"put your money in an Odearest mattress" and as Shane said
the slogan was used in other adverts for the same product.
The store was called 'Sloans'
Anne
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They are still on sale:http://www.adverts.ie/all/ads/county-dublin/terms-odearest/
they even have a bed school - I kid you not....
http://www.clerysbedstore.ie/product/725/47/twilight_king_mattress
Odearest Bedding
Bed & Mattress Manufacturers
Telephone:
045-481332
Fax:
045-481023
Address:
Dublin Road Kilcullen
Kildare Co. Kildare
Ireland.
Website:
http://www.kayfoamsfon.com
Maybe you could contact them?
A cartoon appeared in an ad for Odearest mattresses shortly after the Irish Times fire in September 1951. Seamus Kelly, who as Quidnunc wrote an "Irishman's Diary" (bottom right) is talking to a fireman, as Editor Bertie Smyllie rescues a roll of newsprint. The original caption read: "Quidnunc, in the depths of depression, to firemen made humble confession: You must please get it out – for I can't write without Odearest - my cherished possession."
And if you remeber Quidnunc, you might remeber the Ansbacher Report:
http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2002/07/14/story567633628.asp
O dearie me, Odearest
One name appearing in the Ansbacher report last week was associated with the mattress company Odearest.
Denis McCarthy was managing director, and later chairman, of the company until his retirement in the early 1980s. He was also a long-time non-executive director of the Eagle Star insurance group, and was on the board of Beaumont Hospital.
McCarthy was a big horseracing fan too, and eventually became a board member of Leopardstown Racecourse.
The Ansbacher inspectors discovered that in the early 1970s, after meeting Traynor at a dinner party, McCarthy decided to invest his share of a profit from the sale of a horse in an offshore account. It turned out that McCarthy was a client of Ansbacher through College Trustees.
One of Odearest's advertising slogans many moons ago was `Put your money in a good mattress'.
I know we had them at home - many more moons ago, in Dominic St. Mullingar - and they were bought in Cleary's....oh, the nostalgia for times when you could put your money in a good....anything? ( Not that we had any, then or now...)
Plus ca change?
PM
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LOL, thanks for all responses, I hope I haven't driven you too mad with earworms and that all your bedtime memories are happy ones! :D
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Hi, just one more article I noticed for the Irish times
for the 4th of July 1987 which had the headline that went
something like"New bedfellow for Odearest" which could be
reporting on a merger or something but might give the history
of the company as well.I don't have access to the full article so
I can't say for sure.
Anne
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Irish Times Obituary:
Denis McCarthy
An Appreciation: DENIS McCarthy, who died on May 28th, 2010 was a remarkable man whose outstanding attribute was a generosity of spirit and enthusiastic energy that infused the many spheres of life he touched.
Denis was born in Dublin in 1921, educated in the formal sense in Belvedere College and in the broader aspects of life, such as business, horse racing and poker, by his father Peter, who not only endowed his son with knowledge and nous in these aspects of living but also instilled in him the ethic that if one was fortunate to be dealt a good hand in the lottery of life there was an obligation to give of oneself to better the cause of society.
Denis entered the O’Dearest furniture and mattress business that had been founded by his grandfather Michael O’Dea and the family interest in horse racing was the starting point for a lifelong friendship with Vincent OBrien........
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Peter McCarthy (b.1891) who m. Margaret O'Dea (daughter of the founder of O'Dearest) was from a family who have also been in the furniture business for many generations, in Limerick City. I have a sideboard purchased from McCarthys by my GGGgrandmother, who d. 1889.
The Limerick firm was founded by Peter McCarthy's grandfather and namesake (d. Feb 1888 aged 77), who married Mary O'Donnell in 1842.
I would be interested in learning more about this family than what is included in the Irish Times of 18 Oct 2006 in an article entitled `Shop that's part of the furniture in Limerick's retail life' by Rose Doyle.
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I just found a newscutting from the Irish Press of 29 Jan 1951 reporting the funeral of Sister M. Benignus (O'Dea). Chief mourners included `Mrs. McCarthy, Rathgar', a niece. Does anyone know if these were the sister and daughter respectively of the Michael O'Dea who set up O'Dearest? If so, I have further information on the earlier and later generations of this O'Dea family.
Census returns confirm that the nun was from Limerick, as was Michael O'Dea - see
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Cork/Killaconenagh/Castletownberehaven_/1094576/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Killaconenagh/Castletown_Bearhaven_Town/377766/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Arran_Quay/Eblana__Loane__Prince_Patrick__Bessboro_and_Carlisle_Tces____N_C_R__Phoenix_Park/1335400/
and
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Rathmines___Rathgar_West/Orwell_Park/52384/
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This might be her:
http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/streetandtradedirectories/1921guyscitycountyalmanacanddirectory/1921pages200to295/1921%20272-279.pdf
Or this:
http://www.archive.org/stream/irishcatholicdir00dubluoft/irishcatholicdir00dubluoft_djvu.txt
CONVENTS OF THE SISTERS OF MERCY.
Tralee
Moyderwell, Tralee
Killarney .
Castle town Bere
Ballybunion .
Superioress Mrs. M. Elizabeth Moynihan
Mrs. M. Evangelist Duggan.
Mrs. M. Scholastica Irwin
,, Mrs. M. Benignus O'Dea.
,, Mrs. M. A. M' Sweeney.
If it is maybe you could contact the order.
http://www.sistersofmercy.ie/microsites/southernprovinceheritage/index.html Nuns often have archivists who know the family relationships from sixty years ago!
Don't know the answer to your question, Sorry! PM
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Thanks, pastmagic.
I may well try the Sisters of Mercy later. At the moment, I am waiting to hear back from another possible relative. The mourners at the nun's funeral also included `Mrs. Kenny, Ranelagh, Dublin' who must be the Mrs Lucie Kenny née O'Dea who lived three doors away from my father and grandparents in Ranelagh at the time. This was part of a remarkable series of coincidences, as the Waldron/McNamara and O'Dea/Kenny families, although not related, have now crossed paths in Clare, Limerick and Dublin over no less than six generations. Until I found this newscutting, I was not aware of any relationship between these O'Deas and the O'Dearest O'Deas. I am hoping that Mrs Kenny's grandson will be able to confirm or refute the relationship.
Mrs Kenny's father was George O'Dea of Limerick:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Limerick/Glentworth__Limerick_No__5/George/1502930/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Limerick/Limerick_South_Rural/Ballinacurra/625288/
George was 44 b. Limerick in 1901 and 50 b. Limerick City in 1911.
Sr. Benignus was 41 b. Co. Limerick in 1901 and 51 b. Co. Limerick in 1911.
Michael was 47 b. Co. Limerick in 1901 and 58 b. Co. Limerick in 1911.
Under 'O' at http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/ObituariesdeathnoticesinquestreportsfuneralreportsetcfromTheLimerickChronicle/Alphabeticallistingsofobituariesdeathnoticesetc/ is:
O'Dea Bridget 12/02/1921 Kilrush mother of George O'Dea, Limerick.
I know 'my' George's grandparents were from west Clare, but I'm not certain that this is the mother of the same George.
The oldest Bridget O'Dea in Kilrush was 58 in 1901 and 67 in 1911:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Clare/Kilrush_Urban/Henry_Street/1082188/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Clare/Kilrush_Urban/Henry_Street/364115/
If she's the mother of the three children born in Limerick, she has obviously knocked a fair few years off her age.
On the other hand, George's middle daughter Bridget (4 b. Limerick in 1901) was alive but not at home in 1911; and Bridget's household in Kilrush in 1911 included none of her own children, but did include a granddaughter Bridie (14 b. Co. Clare).
In 1911, Bridget was married 47 years, 6 children born alive, 3 still living.
Living with Bridget and her husband Michael in 1901 were two further children, Mary (26 b. Kilrush) and Stephen (25 b. Kilrush)
The IGI reveals the following births to Michael O'Dea and Bridget Brew:
Stephen 26 Dec 1874 Kilrush http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/igi/individual_record.asp?recid=100020062731
Alice 21 Mar 1880 Kilrush http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/igi/individual_record.asp?recid=100407798505
Stephen was alive in 1911, aged only 26, living with his father, wife and children in a second house on the same street as his mother:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Clare/Kilrush_Urban/Henry_Street/364133/
Father and mother were both described as married, so this is hardly coincidence. Father said he was married only 41 years, with only 4 children born alive, 3 still living.
The span of years from Michael born no later than 1854 to Alice born in 1880 is just about plausible, but it's hard to credit both parents independently miscounting their number of living children, so it appears that we are dealing with two different families.
The Irish Civil Registration Indexes at familysearch.org don't have a death of Bridget O'Dea in Kilrush in 1921, although there are a couple in the following quarter in neighbouring districts.
There is another George son of Bridget in the 1911 census:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Clare/Creegh/Cloonenagh/360671/
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Should the Limerick Chronicle notice perhaps have described Bridget as George's stepmother?
Michael O'Dea married Bridget Brew in Ennistimon PLU in 1870 Q1, which fits with his own 1911 census return:
Michael O'Dea, marriage, 1870 Ennistimon registration district, volume 4 page 345
Bridget Brew (same details)
I will have to order a photocopy of this marriage record and see if it perhaps describes Michael as a widower.
At http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/don_tran/graves/shankill_graveyard_transcriptions_west.htm there is a tombstone inscription which fits neatly:
In loving memory Nan O'Dea died 26th Sept 1931. Stephen O'Dea died 27th May 1951 his wife Margaret died 24th March 1912 R.I.P. Erected by Michael O'Dea (junior) in memory of his beloved mother Katherine (in memory of her) who departed this life May 12th 1874. May she R.I.P. Amen.
However, there is unfortunately a generation missing from the inscription.
My prior information from a note by my late grandmother was that Mrs Kenny's greatgrandparents were Michael O'Dea and Catherine Fitzgerald.
Can anyone separate all the above pieces of evidence into two different family groups, or confirm that they all refer to a single family with a monumental disregard for accuracy in census returns?
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I think I was correct in questioning the description at
http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/ObituariesdeathnoticesinquestreportsfuneralreportsetcfromTheLimerickChronicle/Alphabeticallistingsofobituariesdeathnoticesetc/o.pdf
of "O'Dea Bridget 12/02/1921 Kilrush mother of George O'Dea, Limerick".
"mother of George" should probably read "mother-in-law of George" or "mother of Mrs. George", for an O'Dea married an O'Dea:
George O'Dea marriage Jan/Mar 1892 Limerick registration district volume 5 page 343
Katie O'Dea (same details)
A further search at
https://www.familysearch.org/s/search/index/record-search-advanced#searchType=records&filtered=true&fed=true&collectionId=1584963&surname=o%27dea&motherLast=brew
revealed all six children of Michael O'Dea and Bridget Brew, surely beginning with the future Mrs. George O'Dea:
Kate 23 Feb 1871 Kilrush
John 14 Jun 1872 Kilrush
Mary 3 Oct 1873 Kilrush
Stephen 26 Dec 1874 Kilrush
Ellen 30 Jul 1877 Clare
Alice 21 Mar 1880 Kilrush
Altogether a more plausible explanation than Michael having been a widower with a much older family born in a different county!
When Kate died on 26 Nov 1950, those who sent mass cards according to the Limerick Leader included `Mrs Peter McCarthy, Dublin', surely the daughter of Michael O'Dea of O'Dearest and thus Kate's niece-in-law.
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I asked some of the local experts at last night's meeting of the Rathkeale and District Historical Society about the O'Dea family and learned a little more.
Michael (Mick) O'Dea who set up O'Dearest was a member of the first Seanad Éireann. The Official Members database at
http://www.oireachtas.ie/members-hist/default.asp?MemberFirstName=michael&MemberName=o%27dea&disp=src
is missing his dates of birth and date and says he was an independent. Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Members_of_the_1922_Seanad says that he was a member of Cumann na nGaedhal.
Senator Michael O'Dea donated two stained glass windows to Cappagh Church, county Limerick, one in memory of his mother Lucy (d. 25 June 1902) and the other in memory of his only son Bernard (d. 8 Dec 1916); see http://www.limerickdioceseheritage.org/Cappagh/chCappagh.htm for full details.
Thanks to Jim Riordan for the above information.
Knowledge that Michael was a senator enabled me to find his obituary (with photograph) and funeral report in the Weekly Irish Times of 1 Oct 1932. The funeral mass was celebrated by Rev. Edward Cahill S.J., described as step-brother of the deceased man, as were Messrs. Patrick and John Cahill. I have previously been told that the Cahills were actually Michael O'Dea's half-brothers and believe this to be correct.
The chief mourners also included a brother called Denis O'Dea.
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Interesting!
1922 election from Wiki:
One half the initial membership of the Senate was elected by the Dáil under the system of STV. The remaining half were appointed by the President of the Executive Council (prime minister), W. T. Cosgrave. Those elected by the Dáil were divided into two equal groups by lot, one assigned terms of three years and the other terms of nine. Those appointed by the president were similarly divided, and assigned terms of six and twelve years. The President agreed to use his appointments in 1922 to grant extra representation to the Protestant minority in the state, most of whom were former Southern Unionists, to promote inclusiveness in the new Free State. As a result, of the sixty members of the first Senate, as well as thirty six Roman Catholics, there were twenty Protestants, three Quakers and one Jew. Not only that, but it contained seven peers, a dowager countess, five baronets and several knights. The New York Times remarked that the first senate was "representative of all classes", though it has also been described as, "the most curious political grouping in the history of the Irish state".[2] Members included William Butler Yeats, Oliver St. John Gogarty and General Sir Bryan Mahon.
The opponents of the Anglo-Irish Treaty also opposed the new Senate, and thirty-seven of the senators' homes were burnt to the ground. Others were intimidated, kidnapped and the subject of assassination attempts. Nevertheless, the first Senate greatly influenced the guiding principles and legislative foundations of the new state.[2]
The first Chairman (Cathaoirleach) was Lord Glenavy, formerly the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland in 1916-21
The present political shenanigans probably relegates the Ist senate to the second" most curious political grouping in the history of the Irish state."
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I was in the National Archives this afternoon so decided to check how much money Mick O'Dea had put in his own mattress:
Calendar of Wills and Adm'ons 1933
O'DEA MICHAEL (426) 10 May Probate of
the will of MICHAEL O'DEA late
öf "Creevagh" Orwell Park Rath-
gar Dublin Company Director who
died 25 September 1922 [sic] granted
at DUBLIN to Margaret McCarthy
Married Woman and Patrick Rooney
Solicitor. Effects £57689 11s. 8d.
The year of death should read 1932.
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I have now seen the original 1921 Limerick Chronicle obituary of Mrs Bridget O'Dea mentioned above, and it does indeed describe her as `mother of _Mrs_ George O'Dea, Limerick'. She died `at her [unnamed] daughter's residence, Upper Henry Street, Kilrush'. We know from the 1911 census that there were three surviving children - Stephen in Kilrush and Katie in Limerick and another daughter in Upper Henry Street in Kilrush. The latter is most likely Mary, who was still alive in 1901, rather than Ellen or Alice, and was probably married, but there are too many Mary O'Deas in Clare to easily identify the correct marriage.
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Hi Annie
I work for Odearest, we still make mattresses in Kildare. We have 300 people in Ireland in Dublin and Kildare making mattresses, springs and filling materials. I am trying to put a company history together. I was wondering if you could share the photos of the old Odearest factory with me? Thanks Conor
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Michael O Dea and Mary Burns ?
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Rathmines___Rathgar_West/Orwell_Park/52384
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1885/10865/5967627.pdf
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Mary 1886
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1886/02617/1966047.pdf
Margaret and twin Lucy 1887
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1887/02574/1951598.pdf
Lucy died 6 month's
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1887/06207/4775715.pdf
Mary died 7 month's
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1886/06243/4787428.pdf
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Is the factory in Kildare the one in Kilcullen?
My father was one of the KDA men that build and leased out that factory until Kayfoam bought it.
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electoral rolls Bernard,Denis and Michael O'Dea 41 Stafford Street,Warehouse office and yard
1908 to 1915
http://databases.dublincity.ie/burgesses/browse_years.php
Glasnevin shows burials when entering Orwell into address box
Bernard 1916 age 25
Mary 1924 age 70
Mary's death informant was Denis O'Dea
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1925/05020/4372151.pdf
Michael 1932 age 78
https://www.glasnevintrust.ie/genealogy/results/
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Yes Daithi - the factory on the outskirts of Kilcullen. What does KDA stand for?
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Yes Daithi - the factory on the outskirts of Kilcullen. What does KDA stand for?
Kilcullen Development Association, they built the factory to attract a factory to the town (and later the ones behind it), offered it to anyone willing to employ local people, similar to the IDA but local. They also built all those houses around the factory and sold them at a reasonable price to Kildare people who didn't qualify for a council house but also couldn't get a mortgage. All funded from a Non Stop Draw held every week.
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@conor Stapleton - I’d happily share the picture if I could, but I only ever had sight of it, not possession, and to the best of my knowledge it’s in a private photo album somewhere in Dublin now.
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@ sinann thats an amazing pic, and much appreciate you sharing the factory heritage. Great to see jobs and homes going local, the factory has expanded and gone from strength to strength thankfully over the decades.
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Just got to see inside the factory on the One Day in Ireland program, cool.
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Hi
I think I can help you. I knew Marie O' Dea who died on April 1st 1990 as far as I recall. She was much younger than her siblings and boosted that she was sent away to "finishing school" in Belgium (i think there was a relation living there) as her parents were getting older when she was born.
Yes, her mother was from Clare, who married O' Dea and she lived at Enniscouch and was buried in Rathkeale in St. Marys Cemetery. She was related to Lucy who was sorrowfully mourned, and remembered the windows in the church in St James Church in Cappagh, You can see the church windows at http://limerickdioceseheritage.org/Cappagh/chCappagh.htm
There were also related to the high court judge Justice John Kenny (https://dib.cambridge.org/viewFullScreen.do?filename=a4502) and their family owned the O' Dearest mattress company. Odearest manufacturing set up in Limerick city in the late 19th century but by 1904 had a new factory on Stafford Street (now Wolfe Tone Street) in Dublin.
Marie O' Dea married Patrick V Culhane (march 27 1873- 2 April 1962) of Cappagh, and they lived in Cappagh and the farm is still owed by Culhanes. He was much older than her. Patrick V Culhane was married Ettie Naughton (died Sep 5 1935) and he later remarried to Marie O’ Dea in the 1940s. They never had children. She was a small women of probably 4' 10" tall with a great sense of humor, who enjoyed the odd glass of whiskey or a baileys. On the death of PV Culhane, she bought a house on Crescent Ave, Limerick City.
Headstones for the Culhane are available at
http://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/limerick/photos/tombstones/1headstones/cappagh.txt
http://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/limerick/photos/tombstones/limerick-cappagh/
Hope this helps in your research,
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The Cahills, O'Dea and Culhane's connection are linked by Lucy Culhane.
From https://www.scribd.com/doc/121407745/Biographical-Dictionary-of-Lower-Connello
Cahill, Rev Edward (1868-1941) son of Patrick Cahill and his wife, Lucy O Dea nee Culhane, was born in Callow, Cappagh, Co. Limerick, on 19 February, 1868.
and from
https://dib.cambridge.org/viewReadPage.do;jsessionid=C0502368A20F576815485D928BE297E1?articleId=a1364&searchClicked=clicked&searchBy=1&browsesearch=yes
Cahill, Edward (1868–1941), Jesuit, was born at Callow, Ballingrane, Co. Limerick, on 19 February 1868, son of Patrick Cahill, a farmer, and his wife, Lucy (née Culhane). One of a family of eight (he had three half-brothers, a half-sister, two full brothers, and a full sister), he was educated locally at the Jesuit-run Mungret College and then at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, from where, on completing three years of theological studies, he joined the Society of Jesus (10 November 1890). He was ordained priest in 1897 at the Jesuit church in Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin. From then until 1923 he was back at Mungret as master, prefect of studies, and rector, and finally as superior of the apostolic school attached to the secondary school. As rector he ‘had the opportunity to implement his ideas for the cultural and intellectual development of Irish youth along national lines’ (obituary, Ir. Independent). While at Mungret he wrote his first pamphlet, Rural secondary schools (1919).
In 1924 Cahill moved to the Jesuit house of studies at Milltown Park, Dublin, to become professor of church history and lecturer in sociology, and eventually (1935) spiritual director. There his influence grew as he contributed articles to the Irish Ecclesiastical Record (the catholic bishops’ monthly), the Jesuit-published Irish Monthly, and the popular Irish Messenger. He wrote a five-act play, The abbot of Mungret (1925), and two full-length books, Freemasonry and the anti-Christian movement (1929; 2nd ed., 1930) and The framework of a Christian state: an introduction to social science (1932). Several articles were republished as pamphlets: Ireland's peril (1930), The catholic social movement (1931), Capitalism and its alternatives (1936), Ireland as a catholic nation (1938), and Freemasonry (1944). The titles of these works are highly indicative of Cahill's interests and opinions. In October 1926 he and other Jesuits formed, for the purpose of establishing ‘the social reign of Christ in modern society’, a body they called the League of the Kingship of Christ (also known by the Irish form of its name, An Rioghacht). Cahill's pamphlet Ireland and the kingship of Christ (1928) is an apologia for that body.
In 1936, with Bulmer Hobson (qv) and Mrs Berthon Waters, Cahill formed a group to create public interest in banking, currency, and credit in accordance with his own views at a time when a government commission was inquiring into that subject. The group influenced a rural member of the commission, Peter O'Loghlen, whose minority report (which accused civil servants at the Department of Finance of being ‘hypnotised by British prestige and precedent’) it practically drafted. In September of the same year Cahill sent Éamon de Valera (qv), with whom he was very friendly, a submission outlining catholic principles on which he believed the new constitution being drawn up by the head of government ought to be based. Although a committee of five Jesuits (Cahill included) was set up by the Jesuit provincial to consider the constitution, Cahill presented a memorandum of his own to de Valera and wrote him three letters advocating a much stronger catholic ethos. It is argued that Cahill ‘may have been indirectly influential’ in the wording of article 44 referring to religion (Keogh). His initiatives were regarded with disquiet by his confrères.
A firm believer in farming as a vocation, Edward Cahill was associated with Muintir na Tíre, seeing it as the practice of the ‘corporatism’ recommended in the papal encyclical Quadragesimo anno (1931). He was also an enthusiast for the Irish language. He died 16 July 1941 at Milltown and was buried, with de Valera among his mourners, at Glasnevin cemetery.
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