Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Helen/Ellen Frederica Meyer was born in 1867 in Lawrence in Central Otago in 1869 – the daughter of John Charles Frederick Meyer, a baker, and Ellen Mary Emmeny Barker.
Her sister also signed the petition. (See 105 E L Evans)
In 1879 her father’s bakery was destroyed in a fire and he was declared bankrupt. The following year the family moved to Dunedin and settled in Roslyn where Ellen’s father started another bakery business.
In 1891 he took over the lease of the Dunedin Coffee Palace and private hotel.
Ellen married dentist Albert Edward Burrell on 27 June 1892 at All Saints’ Church in Dunedin. When Ellen signed the suffrage petition she was living in Howe Street.
They then lived in Tapanui and had a son the following year.
Ellen died on 30 July 1903 in Sydney – where she is buried in unclear.
Albert re-married later that year and had a further three children – he died in 1924 and is buried in the Andersons Bay 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
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/