Biographical information provided by Briar Barry for the He Tohu exhibition:
Mary Maddox was born in England in 1827. A skilled dressmaker, and a devout Methodist like her parents, Mary married Charles Hames on Christmas Day 1851. They migrated to New Zealand in 1864.
The Hames were members of the Albertland settlement on the shores of the Kaipara Harbour. The scheme was aimed at those with a non-conformist religious conviction and promised free land. However it became apparent that the allotted land was worthless and extremely isolated, and so most of the 3,000 Albertlanders chose to remain in Auckland. Fewer than 300 tackled the bush.
The Hames family were among the least well equipped to face this task. The boys, one, five, eight and 11 years old, were not robust and their father was frail, impractical and deaf. The fact that the family succeeded was due in large measure to the energy, resourcefulness and determination of Mary. She periodically sought dressmaking and domestic work in Auckland. Returning from these solo expeditions with provisions, tools and other necessities, once earning enough to buy a cow. This allowed Mary to make and sell butter and grow her herd.
Read a full biography of Mary Hames from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on Te Ara.
Her daughters Priscilla and Olive also signed sheet 386 of the suffrage petition. She is probably also related to Mary Jane and Clara Hames.
Reference
Mary Hames obiturary The New Zealand Methodist Times: 7th June 1919 page 13