Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Bessie Roberta MacKay was born in 1866 in New Zealand – the daughter of Robert MacKay and Elizabeth Swanson.
Her father died when she was an infant and her mother re-married to James Reid, a school teacher.
They lived in Thames in the North Island for three years before moving to the South Island.
In 1880 Bessie’s step-father was appointed as Rector of the Tokomairiro High School in Milton in South Otago.
Bessie married Joseph Smith, a farmer, at the Milton Presbyterian Church on 28 December 1888.
They had no children and when Bessie signed the suffrage petition they were living in Milton.
Bessie died on 18 March 1919 at 'The Bush', Stirling and Joseph died in Dunedin in 1943.
They are buried together in the Old Balclutha 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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Clutha District Council https://www.cluthadc.govt.nz/