Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Emily Cootes was born in 1840 in Tasmania, Australia – the daughter of Isaac Cootes, a tailor, and Eliza Cross.
She married Thomas Lawrence Brown, a lemonade manufacturer, on 3 March 1857 and they had four children before the family sailed for Otago in 1864.
They settled in Dunedin then moved to Timaru for a few years in the late 1870s.
They had a further seven children, three who died in infancy.
The family returned to Dunedin about 1881 before Thomas died in 1883.
Emily re-married in 1891 to William Williams and when she signed the suffrage petition they were living in Kensington.
William died in 1906 and Emily died in July 1915 – they are buried with Thomas in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au
Libraries Tasmania https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au