Biographical information provided by Lenie Nilsen for the He Tohu exhibition:
Martha Frances Weir (nee Fox) was born in 1869 at Lyttelton. She had five brothers and one other sibling, and was of Irish descent on her mother's side.
Martha married William Weir in 1887 and had at least seven children: Thomas William (1891-1963), Robert Samuel (1907-1965), Frank (1896-), James Benjamin (1894-1951), Helena Frances (1888-), Annie Doris May (1903-1966), and Martha Lillian (1901-1987).
In 1905 Martha was in Court against the New Zealand Railways, where she claimed damages for injuries to her back received after tripping on a loose brass plate on the floor of a second-class carriage. Martha won her case and received £350 in damages.
William died in Timaru in 1931, aged 79, and Martha died on 24 June 1958.
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