Susannah Osler, SM

M.D. Nash 1987 - Settler Handbook

"Osler had a very large family of 10 children, and informed the Colonial Department that he planned to 'leave three or four of the youngest with their friends at home' until he had established himself at the Cape. Only four children were entered on the official list, but it appears that at least three others did in fact emigrate with their parents. Susannah Osler, aged 20, is known to have married John Colman of Cock's party, a month after the Weymouth reached Algoa Bay, and when Benjamin Osler died in 1821 his widow was left on the location with six dependent children - a son of 15 and five daughters between 4 and 14. Joseph Richards, who according to the sailing list emigrated with a wife and two children, described himself in 1822 as an unmarried man; it is conceivable that 'Sally Richards' on the sailing list was actually Susannah Osler, and 'Sally' and 'Phillis', aged 3 and 1, her two youngest sisters. (It was not uncommon for single women among the emigrants to be listed as the 'wives' of unmarried men in order to avoid paying separate deposits). Another man of the party, John Dale, claimed in 1822 that he had left his wife and family in England; his 17-year old 'wife' Mary, as she was entered in the sailing list, may have been another of the Osler daughters.