Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eliza Jane Cumming was born in 1867 in New Zealand – the daughter of George Cumming, a farmer, and Eliza Ross.
Eliza attended Groper’s Bush School and she had been working as a pupil teacher at the Invercargill South School for six years when she was appointed to the position of head teacher of the Waikaka Valley School in 1889.
When Eliza signed the suffrage petition she was living at Waikaka Valley, north of Gore.
She moved to Palmertson in Otago in the early 1900’s where she taught at Palmerston District High School until she resigned in 1906.
Eliza died on 7 June 1948 in Timaru – she is buried in the Timaru 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
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/