Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eliza Wilby was born in Northamptonshire, England in 1848, the daughter of James Wilby, an agricultural labourer, and Mary Clayson.
She married William Denton in 1868. They had two children before they emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the Scimitar.
Their one-year-old son William died on the voyage of measles and bronchitis.
Eliza had a further six children after their arrival in Dunedin.
The family lived in Andersons Bay and Caversham before moving to Sandymount on the Otago Peninsula in 1891 where Eliza signed the suffrage petition. Her daughter Maria also signed the petition. (Eliza also signed the petition on Sheet 57.)
Eliza and William later moved back to Dunedin where Eliza died on 8 November 1914.
William died in 1938. 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
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