Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Eleanor Sinclair was born in 1866 in New Zealand – the daughter of Charles Graham Sinclair, a miner, & Elizabeth Agnes McGinley. (See 92 E A Sinclair)
She grew up at Adams Flat in South Otago where she signed the suffrage petition.
Mary married John Smith Corston, a butcher, in 1893 and they had five children.
They spent a few years in the North Island before moving back to the South Island to live at Stirling.
In the early 1920s they moved to Dunedin where John worked in a tannery.
Mary died at her home in Dunedin on 11 November 1937 and John died in 1939 - they are buried together 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
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