Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Donnelly was born in 1870 in New Zealand – the daughter of Arthur Donnelly, a miner, and Jane Harris.
She married David Fraser, a carrier, in 1891. They had 14 children, one who died in infancy, and were living in David St, Caversham, Dunedin when Jane signed the suffrage petition.
On 24 July 1921 a fire broke out at Cowie’s Brewery near to the Fraser’s house in South Road, Caversham.
Jane was looking at the fire from an upstairs window of her house when she 'was taken with a bad turn, accompanied by a choking sensation, and expired suddenly', she was aged 49.
David died in 1958, they are buried together in the family grave 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
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