Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Clara Frances Hatten was born in 1867 on the Central Otago goldfields – the daughter of Thomas William Hatten, a miner, and Elizabeth Avery Treleven.
Her father died in 1873 while blasting rock at Arthur’s Point and the family then moved to Queenstown where Clara went to school.
She married George Kneller Parker, a miner, in 1884 and they had two daughters.
When Clara signed the suffrage petition they family were living in Queenstown - in the late 1890s they moved to Alexandra where George worked as a dredge operator.
In the 1900s they moved to Dunedin where George ran a tobacconist’s shop and Clara featured in a series of newspaper advertisements for Clements Tonic which had miraculously cured her neuralgia, nervousness and indigestion.
In 1903 the tobacconist business was sold and they let out rooms in their home for boarders.
George died in 1924 and Clara died on 16 March 1957, they are buried together in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au