Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Evans was born about 1855 in Wales – the daughter of James Evans.
She married William Davey Havard, a miner, on 27 November 1875 at the Bedwellty Parish Church in Monmouthshire.
They had two daughters before they emigrated to Otago, arriving in January 1879 on the Western Monarch.
Their youngest daughter died in May 1879 and they were to have a further seven children, one of who died in early childhood.
William worked as a labourer on the Silverstream water race. The family lived at first at Whare Flat later moving to the Anderston subdivision of Kaikorai in Dunedin where Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition.
Elizabeth died on 1 April 1929, her obituary says she 'was widely known for her kindly nature. She took a keen interest in the Cambrian Society of Otago, her husband being a member of that body. The deceased, who was 73 years of age, spoke the Welsh language fluently.'
William died in Gore in 1936, they are buried together in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.
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.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
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions