Born: 1782 christened 18 Jul 1782 at South Barrow, Somerset, England
Parents: James Bartlett c1750-1800 and Mary Shean c1746-1809
Siblings: James Bartlett 1772–1791, Samuel Bartlett 1775-1851, William Bartlett 1779–1781, William Bartlett 1784-?
Married: James Oram 1774-1839 13 Jan 1806 at South Barrow, Somerset
Offspring: William Oram 1809-1873, Mary Oram c1813-1888, Susannah Oram 1817-1899, Elizabeth Oram c1818-1878, Sarah Oram 1820-1869, and John Oram 1824-1907
Died: 7 Feb 1838 at The Infirmary, Fisherton Anger, Wiltshire (part of present day Salisbury) and buried in the churchyard at South Barrow, Somerset with James.
For more on Susannah’s married life please see James’ page
For more on Susannah’s Bartlett relations please see Bartlett Family page
Death of Susannah
For too long the only reference we could find of a Susannah Oram dying in February 1838 was a Susannah Oram who died from congested lungs in Kingston-upon-Thames near London. As the family tradition is that Susannah died of cancer the certificate could have been ‘our’ Susannah’s but it implied that the family was rich enough to send Susannah a hundred miles for treatment. The discovery of the ‘Kingston’ Susannah’s will in the National Archives at Kew on-line library showed that we had the wrong Susannah as this one was a spinster from Shoreham in Sussex.
ADD image of death certificate XYZ
Thanks to the work of Robert Senior (link to source to be added in this site XYZ) we know that Susannah was buried at South Barrow on 14 February 1838 having died in Salisbury. Susannah’s death certificate is in the name of Susan Oram, 65 year old dairywoman who died of mortification (gangrene) at The Infirmary, Fisherton Anger on 7 February 1838. The informant was GR Tatum, house surgeon at the Infirmary. This suggests that the family could afford to send Susannah forty miles to Salisbury for treatment, though it seems as if Susannah’s brother Samuel was her only relative who could have afforded to help her.
Two Susannah Orams dying on the same day is quite a co-incidence, especially as congested lungs can be caused by cancer and the oral tradition is that Susannah died of cancer.
