Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Waddell was born on 16 October 1826 in Argyllshire, Scotland – the daughter of James Waddell, a baker, and Christina McDonald.
She married John Gibson Smith, a widower and school teacher, about 1851 – they had seven children and lived in Ednam, Roxburghshire until 1864 when, due to John’s ill health, the family emigrated to Bluff on the Sevilla.
Their last child was born in 1867. The family lived in Longbush, Southland where John worked as headmaster before they moved to Invercargill where John was appointed as secretary of the Southland Education Board.
John died in 1891 and when Mary signed the suffrage petition she was living with her children at her home 'Tawera' in Tay St, Invercargill.
Mary died at her home on 17 October 1901, she is buried with John in the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Smith_(poet)
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz