Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Annie Rebecca Truman was born in 1866 in London, England – the eldest child of Edwin Phillip Truman, a fish, poultry and game seller, and Elizabeth Robinson Crawford Smith.
Her family emigrated to Australia in the late 1870s and then on to Otago in 1879.
Her mother doesn’t appear to have come to New Zealand with them, possibly she had died.
Her father re-married in 1880 and returned to Australia about five years later.
Annie trained as a teacher and worked at Bannockburn School in Central Otago where she met her future husband Charles John Moffat Ray.
When Annie signed the suffrage petition she gave her address as Rattray St, Dunedin – she may have been visiting Dunedin at the time as she appears on the electoral roll as living in Bannockburn.
She married Charles on 13 May 1898 at St Andrew’s Church in Cromwell. 'After the wedding ceremony the bridal party returned to Mr Chas. Ray’s (father of the bridegroom) residence, where a sumptuous repast was spread for the guests. The evening was spent in music and singing.'
They had two sons and Annie, possibly unusually for the time, continued to teach.
Annie died at her home in Gore on 2 December 1932 and Charles died in 1948. They are buried together in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
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