Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Mary Ann Hooper was born about 1849.
She married William Cook in London in 1873 and they had three children before they emigrated to Otago in 1880 on the “Mallowdale”.
They had a further son after their arrival in the country and they ran a store in North East Valley.
In 1892 William, who had been in low spirits, hung himself in a shed beside the house.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition she was living in Gordon St, North East Valley working as a storekeeper - she continued to run the store for several years.
Mary died on 12 August 1934 – she is buried with William in the family grave 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
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz