Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eugenie Veronique Adolphine de Vils was born on 1 March 1835 in France – the daughter of Gustuve Eugene de Vils, a French language teacher, and Sophie Damoy Lefrbree.
The family moved to London where Eugenie was christened in 1843.
She married Edgar Ivens, a bank agent/accountant, on 3 March 1857 in London.
In September 1857, Eugenie and Edgar sailed for Melbourne, their son Edgar was born there in 1859.
1861 saw them back in London where their daughter Blanche was born (See 100 B M Mitchell).
They then travelled back to Melbourne in 1862 and on to New Zealand in 1863 where Edgar worked for the Bank of New South Wales in Lyttleton.
Mabel, Frank and Grace were born in New Zealand and the family were in Dunedin in 1865 when their daughter Grace died 1869.
The family then moved back to Melbourne where Herbert was born in 1870, he died at the age of five months. Victor was born in 1872 and died shortly after birth.
In 1873 Madame Eugenie Ivens was advertising her services in the Melbourne Argus 'French Conversation Class (ladies only)'.
Edgar was declared insolvent in 1875 and their youngest daughter Merrial was born about 1877. (See 100 Merrial E Ivens)
The family returned to New Zealand and Edgar died in Dunedin in 1887, he is buried in the Southern Cemetery.
When Eugenie signed the suffrage petition she was living in Tapanui, South Otago near her married daughter Blanche.
She travelled to Buenos Aires with her daughters Mabel and Merrial in 1899.
Later she accompanied Merrial and her husband to Spain, and when he died Merrial took her to England, where she died in 1920.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au