Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
also signed as 109 M Hargest
Mary Prosser was born about 1852 in Breconshire, Wales.
She married farm labourer James Hargest in 1878 and shortly after their marriage they emigrated to Otago on the Canterbury.
They settled, at first, in Oamaru before moving to Gore. They had 11 children, two who died in infancy, and when Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living in Jacobstown, Gore.
In 1900 they moved to live on a farm they had bought at, nearby, Mandeville.
Four of their sons served in WWI, one of whom died in 1916 in France. Another of their sons, James, was a much decorated war hero who served in both world wars and died serving in France in 1944. James Hargest High School in Invercargill is named after him.
Mary and James retired back to Gore in 1928 where they celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in September of that year.
James died in 1929 and Mary died on 19 August 1935 – they are buried together in the Gore Cemetery.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/