Occupation added next to her signature: 'Household duties'.
Originally transcribed as Mary A Deene. Also signed as 277 Mary Lorgery
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann Deem was born in 1872 in Hyde, Central Otago – the daughter of John Deem, a hotelkeeper, and Agnes Watt.
She grew up at the Two Rivers Hotel at Waihemo and signed the suffrage petition at nearby Palmerston.
Mary married Eugene William Lorgery/Lorgelly in 1893 and she appears to have signed the petition again at Ashburton near Eugene’s home of Peel Forest after her marriage.
The couple had one son and lived at first at Maerewhenua where Eugene worked as a miner.
Around 1900 they moved to Fairlie then to Christchurch in the 1910s where Eugene worked as a hotelkeeper, hairdresser and farmer.
Eugene died in 1950 and Mary died on 20 March 1955, they are buried together in the All Saints Church Cemetery, Burwood.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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