suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Bailey
Given names: 
Bertha
Given address: 
Alma Place
Sheet No: 9
Town/Suburb: 
Ponsonby
City/Region: 
Auckland
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Miyuki Hosoya-Neale

Bertha Bailey, the daughter of Annie and Josiah Quincy, was born in 1872 in Shortland District of Thames, New Zealand. Her father, Josiah married Ann (Annie) Scotney in 1861 in Northamptonshire, England.

Bertha was probably named after her older sister Bertha who died at age of two in 1870. Bertha was about four years old when her father died in accident on 7 April 1876. Mr Bailey died while working at the Freeman’s Bay Reclamation Works in Auckland. Mrs Bailey was heavily pregnant at the time and struggled financially after her husband’s death.  

According to Electoral Rolls of 1896, 1897 and 1899, Bertha was living in Runnell Street, Ponsonby and working as a tailoress.  

At the age of 27, Bertha married Denis James Donovan, 23 May 1889 at Sacred Heart Church, Ponsonby (as Bertha Mary). Denis and Bertha had two children, Cyril Emmanuel Joseph (b. 1900) and Daphne Josephine Annie (b. 1907) Bertha and Denis were living in Sheridan Street, Freemans Bay.

Bertha died on 9 October 1948 aged 76 years. Bertha and Denis are buried together at Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland with their daughter, son-in-law and grandson(?). More information about Bertha, including a photograph of Bertha and her siblings, can be found in Ancestry.com – Sandra Mead nee Lewis family tree.

Sources

Births, Deaths & Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search

District Keys To the NZ Registration Indexes (1990) Birth 1848-1955

FreeBMD. England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.

Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 1915, 7 April 1876, Page 2 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18760407.2.9

Auckland Star, Volume VII, Issue 1918, 11 April 1876, Page 2 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS18760411.2.14

Ancestry.com – Sandra Mead nee Lewis family tree (digitised copy of marriage certificate)

Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Ancestry.com – Sandra Mead nee Lewis family tree (images of Bertha and her siblings)


Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

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