Signed family name
Staples
Signed given name
M. J.
Given address
Gore
Notes
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Jane Smithson was born in 1861 in New Zealand – the daughter of Thomas Smithson and Jane.
She married Thomas Seamore Staples in 1878 and they had seven children.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Gore.
Thomas died in Invercargill Hospital in 1909 – he is buried in the Gore Cemetery.
Mary later moved to Timaru, then to Dunedin where she died on 9 May 1955 – she was cremated and her ashes were scattered.
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