Also signed as 173 Emma Williams
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Emma Garn was born in 1862 in New Zealand – the daughter of Alfred Garn, a tailor, and Frances Anne Wyse. (See 83 Fanny Garn)
Emma married Albert Brown Williams, a cutter, in 1886 and they had two sons.
Albert died in 1892 and when Emma signed the suffrage petition she was living with her mother in Union St, Dunedin working as a tailoress.
The following year Emma gave birth to a daughter, a court case followed where Emma charged a married man with the paternity of her daughter.
Emma was, at the time, an inmate of the Benevolent Institute – she lost her case and her daughter was admitted to the Industrial School as a neglected child.
Emma can be found in the 1896 Electoral Roll back in Union St working as a tailoress.
She died on 31 January 1937 in Auckland and is buried with her husband and parents in the Northern 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