Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Charlotte Osborne was born in Hawkwell, Essex in 1850, the daughter of John Osborne, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Ann Moulton. Charlotte’s father died in 1852 and four years later her mother married Isaac/James Callick.
In 1877 Charlotte arrived in Otago on the Marlborough, she was accompanied by her mother, step-father, sister and two step siblings.
In 1888 Charlotte married Thomas Brown, they had two children – a daughter who lived only three minutes and a son, Arthur.
On 10 June 1908 Thomas Brown "disappeared from his home in Helena St – he had been suffering from melancholia for some time – his body was found hanging in the bush at Caversham" the next day.
Arthur died in 1913, at his mother’s residence in Helena St, aged 21. When Charlotte died on 4 March 1922 she had no direct descendants and her estate was divided between her surviving siblings and their families. Her sister Sarah Stanley also signed sheet 70 of the petition.
Charlotte is buried in the Southern Cemetery with her family.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
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