Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Oliver was born on 10 March 1833 in Crailing, Roxburghshire, Scotland – the daughter of William Oliver, a road contractor, and Agnes Scott.
She married William Rutherford in May 1852 and shortly after their marriage they emigrated to New South Wales, Australia on the America.
They had four children in Australia before William, who was working as a carter, was declared insolvent in Geelong, Victoria in 1860.
Sometime in the mid-1860s the family sailed for Otago and settled in Dunedin where their last two children were born.
In 1873 William died when, while crossing a creek in the Manuka Gorge, his wagon fell into the stream on top of him.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition she was living with her daughter in Filluel St, Dunedin.
Two of her daughters also signed the petition. (See 70 Agnes Hogg and 45 C Inverarity)
Mary died at her son’s home in Dunedin on 12 September 1914 – she is buried with William 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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au