Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Walkem was born in 1862 in New South Wales – the daughter of Mark Henry Walkem, a sailmaker, and Jane Hutchison.
She came to New Zealand with her family in the late 1860s and they settled in Dunedin.
Elizabeth married William Smeaton, a maltster, on 11 April 1887 at her home in Musselburgh.
They did not have any children and when Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition they were living in Water St, Maori Hill.
Elizabeth died on 24 June 1932 in Invercargill – she is buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill.
William remarried, he died in 1944 in Onehunga and is buried in the Mangere Lawn Cemetery, Auckland.
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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
NSW Government https://familyhistory.bdm.nsw.gov.au/