Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Maia Carew was born about 1830 in Tipperary, Ireland.
She married Arthur Lennox Swete in 1858 in Victoria, Australia and they had two sons, one who died in infancy before they sailed for Auckland about 1863.
They had a further eight sons in New Zealand which included twins, four who died in infancy.
By 1874 the family had moved to Dunedin where they ran a grocery store – the following year Arthur was declared bankrupt and he appears to have returned to Auckland.
In 1879 he was accused of 'passing a valueless cheque' and in 1888 he was destitute and stole a library book in order to get back into jail - he died in 1897.
When Maria signed the suffrage petition she was running a grocer’s shop in Main Rd, South Dunedin.
She died on 3 September 1926, at her son’s home in South Dunedin – she is buried with three of her sons 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
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au