Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Mary Raines was born about 1825 in Faversham, Kent.
She emigrated to Australia where she married George Scoones, a mariner, at the Congregational Church, Sydney, on 25 February 1853.
They had a son in Australia about 1854 and a daughter who was born at sea on the way to New Zealand in 1855.
They had a further three children, one who died in infancy, and they lived in Port Chalmers where George worked as the pilot and signal master.
He later purchased the “Alice” a schooner which was wrecked a few months later.
In 1881 George was declared insolvent owing £282 1s 1d with assets of £10. He died the following year.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition she was living with her daughter Hannah (See 167 Hannah Scoones) and her son in Castle St, Dunedin.
She died at her home on 13 March 1903 – she is buried with George 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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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