Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Ann Freak was born in 1850 in Boldre, Hampshire – the daughter of George Freak, an agricultural labourer, and Elizabeth Stickley.
She married Stephen John Stevens on 30 October 1876 in St Mary’s Church, Portsea, Hampshire.
They had two children, the eldest who died in infancy, before they emigrated to Otago in 1879 on the Oamaru.
They settled in Dunedin where their daughter Louise died one month after their arrival.
They had a further three children and when Ann signed the suffrage petition they were living in North East Valley.
Ann died at her home on 11 April 1902.
Stephen re-married two years later and had five more children.
He died in 1934 – they are buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz