Originally transcribed as 62 Mary Ann Ellen
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann was born about 1842 in England.
She came to Otago from Hobart, Australia with John Elbra, an engineer, in 1892.
John was originally from England but had emigrated to Ohio, USA in the 1870s with his family. He travelled to the California goldfields in the 1880s and left his family in the USA.
It is not known when he met Mary Ann.
When she signed the suffrage petition Mary Ann and John were living in Waverley St, South Dunedin.
They had a business selling canaries, parrots, hens etc. and in the 1900s Elbra’s was trading in Main South Rd, South Dunedin.
In 1909 they were advertising 'singing thrushes cheap'.
John died in 1924 and Mary Ann died on 22 June 1936, in her 95th year. They are buried together in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
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
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