From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
John T. Oram, was a native of Virginia but lived a number of years in Monroe County, Indiana; his mother, Elizabeth Dyer, was a native of Asheville, North Carolina. The family moved from Indiana to Texas in 1857 and located at Lancaster. Following an enlistment in the Confederate army and a transferal from active duty to the manufacturing of pistols and other firearms, John M. Oram moved to Dallas in 1871.
John married Sarah Helen Stanford in 1878 in Dallas. Sarah Stanford was the daughter of Rebecca Poiteven Stanford and Thomas William Stanford, who was one of the founders of the Columbus Iron Works in Columbus, Georgia. Stanford built engines for the Confederate ships. The Stanford home, located across the river from the Ironworks on a hilltop in Girard, Alabama, became the site of a skirmish between the Yankees and the Rebels. Following military orders, the Stanford family left their home hurriedly with only what they could load on their wagon. The one old horse, left to them by the Yankees, dropped dead at the bottom of the hill. Sarah Helen, though an infant at the time, told the story to her grandchildren as the reason for the family to begin their travels that eventually led to Dallas. The home they left was reduced to ashes.
Although John M. Oram was almost twice Sarah Stanford’s age, when he first saw her across a downtown Dallas street, he prophetically said that she would be the girl he would someday marry.
As a watchmaker in 1871, Oram built the “largest” jewelry store in Dallas County.
Later he reared an orphaned nephew, Arthur A. Everts, whom he trained in the jewelry business. The Everts family remained in this business until the early 1980s.
During his business career John M. Oram was described by various publishers as a “genius” in the invention of mechanical and electrical devices. He was later dubbed “the forerunner in the field of electronics in this part of the country.” (Dallas Yesterday- Sam Acheson – Dallas News.) He constructed and installed a telephone line extending from his Cottage Lane residence to his Elm Street store, setting up a first business switchboard operation. In 1881, Oram became the “leading spirit” in the construction of the first telephone wire connecting Dallas and Fort Worth, and the first message from Ft. Worth was received in Oram ‘s jewelry store. His interest in electrical power caused him “to install at his own cost the first electric light bulb” ever seen in Dallas.
During a solar eclipse on July 1878, the U.S. Navy sent Prof. David Todd (at the expense of $500.00) to set up his telescope at Oram ‘s home. Using Oram ‘s time recording devices, the two communicated with Thomas Edison in Wyoming and with other professors along the path of the eclipse. For the first time in history, astronomers synchronized their watches with telegraphic signals.
In 1885, Oram invented and sold a telephone time signal to American Bell Telephone Co. in Boston. By this device, a telephone user could tell time by an automatic signal. This was the first automatic telephone time indicator.
Oram ‘s career included being general manager of the Dallas Electric &: Power Co. (forerunner of the Dallas Power and Light) and the Dallas Ice Factory. During the late 1880s and the early 1890s, Oram was the city electrician and wrote the Dallas electrical code. He also invented a method to eliminate the crank system for telephone rings, an electrical warning system for bank protection, and a type of jeweler’s lathe that facilitates work in the trade. Mr. Oram built the Oram Building on Elm Street, which was the early home of W. A. Green Co. It was known as one of the first “skyscrapers” and a first building with an elevator. He also owned the first licensed automobile in Dallas. A metal number 1 was registered and handmade by his son, John Oram. The license today is among the memorabilia in the Hall of State at Fair Park, Dallas.
Oram was a charter member and officer of the first Christian church built in Dallas in 1875. He was also a charter member of the Business Men’s Christian League and a director of the YMCA. Prior to his death in 1914, he had begun a home on Mockingbird and Greenville. The home was finished by his family and stood until December of 1984 as a known “landmark.”
Children of Sarah and John Oram, all deceased: Alene Oram Giebel, Edwin Oram, Louise Oram Hill, John Oram, Katherine Oram Crosby and Stanford Oram.
Grandchildren of Sarah and John Oram, all living in Dallas: Elizabeth Oram Thorne, Robbye Oram Jaggi, and Frederick Giebel.
Great grandchildren of Sarah and John Oram in Texas: Elizabeth Thorne Blum, Plano; Lewis Robert Jaggi, Dallas; Jeanne Jaggi Anderson, Garland; and Robbye Jaggi Scharringhausen, Houston.
Bibliography:
- “Texas and Texans” – published 1917.
- “A Place Called Dallas” – A. C. Green.
- “Poor Larry’s Almanack” – Dallas Morning News – July 21, 1963.
- Other newspaper and magazine articles
- “Dixie Dynamo” – magazine article, etc.
By Robbye Oram Jaggi, granddaughter, Dallas
