Originally transcribed as Marion Powell
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Maria Broomfield was born about 1841 in Ireland – the daughter of Joseph Broomfield, a farmer.
She married Joseph Powell, a gardener, on 25 February 1868 in Armagh, Queens County and they had two daughters before moving to Wales where they had a further three children.
In 1876 the family emigrated to Otago on the Timaru. Their infant daughter died on the voyage and they had an additional four children after their arrival.
The family settled in Maori Hill, Dunedin and when Maria signed the suffrage petition they were living in Water St.
She died on 20 March 1915 at Mount Pleasant, Sawyers Bay near Dunedin and Joseph died in 1922, they are buried together in the Port Chalmers 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
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Irish Genealogy https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/