Person:Susannah Outridge (1)

Susannah Outridge was baptised on 7th April 1754 at Ickleford in Hertfordshire, daughter of Eliza Maria Outridge, formerly Griffin, and her husband William Outridge. She appears to have been the youngest of their five children, although at least one of her older siblings had died before Susannah was born.

Susannah was married at Ickleford on 27th October 1775, aged 20, to a William Davis from Shillington, just over the border into Bedfordshire. Shortly after their marriage they moved to Luton in Bedfordshire, where they had at least six children between 1777 and 1797. They did not live in the town itself, but in the adjoining hamlets of Limbury and Biscot to the north-west of the town in the rural part of the parish. Susannah named her eldest daughter Elisamirah - presumably a variation on Susannah's own mother's name of Eliza Maria.

Susannah's daughter Elisamirah married in Luton in 1795 and Susannah became a grandmother the following year, aged 42. Susannah outlived her daughter Elisamirah, who died aged only 24.

Susannah's husband William died in 1820, when he was said to be 70 years old. Susannah outlived him by less than four months, being buried at Luton on 7th March 1821. She was 66.

1. ↑ Church of England. Bishop's transcripts of Ickleford, 1604-1868. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   1754 Baptisms: Susannah Daughter of William & Lissey Mariah Outridge April 7

   This baptism has been linked to the Susannah Outridge who married William Davis in 1775 on the basis that the adult Susannah gave her daughter the same distinctive name as her mother: Elisamirah / Elizamaria or variants.

2. ↑ Burials index, in Bedfordshire Family History Society. Luton Parish Register Transcript. (Bedford).

   There were clearly two women named Susanna(h) Davis living in Luton around this time who were similar ages - and coincidentally both were married to men named William. One couple lived at Limbury / Biscot to the north-west of Luton, whilst the other couple lived at Stopsley to the east of Luton. The two Susannahs died in 1821 and 1840:
   bur. 7 Mar 1821, St Mary, Luton: Susanna DAVIS, aged 60 [1760/1]
   bur. 20 Jun 1840, St Mary, Luton: Susanna DAVIS, aged 74 [1765/6]
   
   We conclude that the 1821 burial is the Susannah the subject of this page, on the basis that the 1840 Susannah's monumental inscription makes clear that she was the wife of the William who died in 1835:
   In memory of / WILLIAM DAVIS who departed this life / 4th October 1835 / aged 79 years / "Pass a few fleeting years / and all that now in bodies live / shall quite like me, the vale of tears / their righteous sentence to receive" / Also of SUSANNAH DAVIES / wife of WILLIAM DAVIES / who departed this life / 15th June 1840 / aged 74 years.
   As the William buried in 1835's burial record says he was of Stopsley, we conclude that the Susannah who died in 1840 was the other half of the Stopsley couple, and therefore by a process of elimination the Susannah who died in 1821 must be from the Limbury / Biscot couple.