Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Julia Elizabeth Onion was born in 1843 in Middlesex, England – the daughter of Benjamin Onion, a builder and undertaker, and Sarah Perk.
She married Malachi Richardson, a labourer, in 1862 and they had six children, two who died in infancy, before the family emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the James Nicol Fleming.
A further eight children were born in New Zealand and when Julia signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Jones St, St Kilda, Dunedin.
She died on 29 October 1907 and Malachi died in 1930, they are buried 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
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz