Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
also signed as 103 E Mortimer & 72 E Mortimer
Ellen Swain was born in 1858 in Kent, England – the daughter of Hodges Swain, a farm labourer, and Mary Ann Linkins.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1874 on the William Davie and they settled in Southland.
She married Thomas Bythesea Mortimer, a coachman, on 13 September 1875 at the Winton Manse. They had thirteen children and they lived at Waikiwi then at East Gore where Ellen signed the suffrage petition.
When they celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1925 they were living in Makarewa.
Ellen died at her home on 11 September 1931 the day before her 74th birthday.
Her obituary said she “endeared herself to all who knew her, no one in sickness or accident ever calling on her in vain. Even during her trying illness her thoughts were of others whom she knew to be in trouble. Only those who were privileged to know her intimately could fully appreciate the fineness of her nature. She was a singularly sympathetic woman, swift to enter into the need and feelings of others”.
Thomas died in 1932 – they are buried in the family grave in the St Johns Cemetery, Invercargill.
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
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz