Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Davey was born about 1837 in Torpoint, England – the daughter of Henry Davey, a miner, and Mary Ann Smith.
She emigrated to South Australia with her family in 1848 on the Sibilla.
Elizabeth married Richard Henry Edwards, a miner, in Victoria in 1853, they moved back to Adelaide for the birth of their first child then back to Victoria for the next four births.
Their next seven children were born in South Australia, one child dying in infancy.
In 1877 Elizabeth and Richard with nine of their children travelled to Otago on the Tararua.
They settled at Blue Spur on the Otago Goldfields near Elizabeth’s mother and stepfather, a further two children were born in Otago.
In 1885 the family moved to Dunedin. The Superintendent of the Blue Spur Wesleyan Sunday School presented Elizabeth with 'a handsome writing desk as a token of recognition of the services which she had rendered the Sunday School during a long number of years.'
When Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Maori Hill in Dunedin.
Later, in the 1890s, the family moved to the Coromandel then to Waihi where Richard worked as a miner.
Richard died at his residence 'The Wattles' in Waihi in 1905, he is buried in the Waihi Cemetery.
Elizabeth died on 14 January 1926 at her daughter’s home in Grey Lynn, Auckland, she is buried in the Waikaraka Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Hauraki District Council https://www.hauraki-dc.govt.nz/services
Auckland Council https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/cemeteries
Genealogy SA https://www.genealogysa.org.au