Originally transcribed as Elena A Ford
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Emma Maria Foord was born in 1875 in Arrowton in Central Otago – the daughter of Edwin James Foord, a miner, and Elizabeth Renn.
She grew up in Arrowtown where she signed the suffrage petition.
In 1896 Emma resigned her position as organist of the Arrowtown Presbyterian Church.
Early in 1897 she travelled to Melbourne to begin training for missionary work in India for the Poona and Indian Village Mission.
In 1900 Emma was “ordered home by the doctor on account of ill-health”.
She returned later in the year and married Robert Mackay on 3 January 1901 at Cinnamon Gardens Baptist Church in Colombo, Sri Lanka - they had three children.
Emma died on 31 December 1944 in Melbourne, Australia, where Robert died in unknown.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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