Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Ann Sewell was born in Victoria, Australia in 1858 – the daughter of Robert Musgrave Sewell and Mary Greenwell.
Her mother died in 1860 and Jane came to New Zealand with her father where she married Peter Adamson on 25 August 1876 in the East Taieri Parish.
Jane and Peter had three children before Peter died in 1881 when he fell from a cart when intoxicated and was run over – he is buried in the East Taieri Cemetery.
Jane married Peter’s brother Robert, a bootmaker, the following year and they had a further seven children.
They lived at East Taieri until they retired and when Jane signed the suffrage petition they were living in Lothian St, Maori Hill, Dunedin.
Robert died in 1916 and Jane died on 1 November 1941 – they are buried together 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
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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