Biographical information provided for the He Tohu exhibition:
Emma Jane Hodgson was born on 13 March 1858 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, to James and Naomi Hodgson.
She married James Moorby (1848-1936) on 8 October 1877 at St Peter (Bradford Cathedral), Yorkshire, England. They had immigrated to New Zealand by 1879 when their first child here was born. Emma gave birth to at least one child in England. They lived in the Maharahara area near Dannevirke, until they retired to New Plymouth.
Her daughter Mable Emma Jane Moorby died in Kereru, Manawatu in 1900 from eating too many unripe gooseberries. She was 10.
Her son Thomas William Moorby was killed in action at Bapaume, France on 26 August 1918, aged 34.
Emma died on 31 May 1933 at New Plymouth.