Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Bessie/Betsey Hayward was born on 10 September 1855 in Adelaide, South Australia – the daughter of William Hayward and Eleanor Noad.
She sailed for Otago with her family in 1863 on the Gothernburg and she married Charles Erasmus Simmons, a railway guard, in 1884.
They had six children and when Bessie signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Clinton in South Otago.
They later moved to Auckland where Bessie died on 24 September 1934 and Charles died in 1938, they are buried together in the Hillsborough Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Family History SA https://www.familyhistorysa.org/colonists.html
Auckland Council http://www.akcity.govt.nz/