Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Caroline Allen was born in 1850 in St Austell, Cornwall – the daughter of William Allen, a tin miner, and Mary Nicholls.
She married John Common in 1874 and they had two daughters before they emigrated to Canterbury in 1878 on the Waitangi.
They settled in North Otago and had a further four children.
When Caroline signed the suffrage petition they were living in Enfield.
In later life they moved to Oamaru where John died in 1928 and Caroline died on 20 October 1943 – they are buried together in the Old Oamaru Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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
Waitaki District Council https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/our-services
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/