suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Williams
Given names: 
Emma
Given address: 
Union Street
Sheet No: 83
Town/Suburb: 
North Dunedin
City/Region: 
Dunedin
Notes: 

Also signed as 173 Emma Williams

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Emma Garn was born in 1862 in New Zealand – the daughter of Alfred Garn, a tailor, and Frances Anne Wyse. (See 83 Fanny Garn)

Emma married Albert Brown Williams, a cutter, in 1886 and they had two sons.

Albert died in 1892 and when Emma signed the suffrage petition she was living with her mother in Union St, Dunedin working as a tailoress.

The following year Emma gave birth to a daughter, a court case followed where Emma charged a married man with the paternity of her daughter.

Emma was, at the time, an inmate of the Benevolent Institute – she lost her case and her daughter was admitted to the Industrial School as a neglected child.

Emma can be found in the 1896 Electoral Roll back in Union St working as a tailoress.

She died on 31 January 1937 in Auckland and is buried with her husband and parents in the Northern Cemetery.

Sources

BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search

Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz

Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

Community contributions

1 comment has been posted about Emma Williams

What do you know?

Wendy Clark

Posted: 06 Jan 2015

Yes, Emma Williams (Union St. Dunedin) was my great grandmother. In 1893 she gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, Annie Williams, my grandmother. The father was John Frisken Robertson, according to Papers Past which recorded Emma Williams attempt in court to get Robertson (married to Margaret nee Thomson) to acknowledge paternity and pay maintenance. She was unsuccessful. Consequently, my grandmother grew up in the care of the Caversham Industrial School. As a kid I was curious about her past but the topic was taboo.