suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Havill
Given names: 
Mary Anne
Given address: 
Woodville
Sheet No: 503
Town/Suburb: 
Woodville
City/Region: 
Hawke's Bay
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Clare Cramond (great-great niece)

Mary Anne Havill was born is 1863, the youngest child of Michael and Julia (Corkery) Finucane. Her family moved from Wellington to Napier in the early 1860s where Mary Anne was born. Her father died in 1868, and the following year her mother married a hotel-keeper, George Taylor, the publican of the Ferry Hotel in Wairoa. Mary Anne’s half-sister, Harriet was born in 1872.

In 1889, Mary Anne’s stepfather took over the Ferry Hotel at the Western Spit in Napier. The following year, her mother died unexpectedly from a heart attack and one newspaper report said she was found by her daughters, presumably Mary Anne and Harriet. George remarried within six months, but died suddenly two months later without leaving a will and the estate went to his widow.

The whereabouts of the two sisters is unknown at this stage, but in 1891, Mary Anne married Albert George Havill from Hokitika, and her half-sister married Albert’s brother. By 1893, when both sisters signed the Petition, the two families were living in Woodville where they had a butchery business, Havill Bros. Mary Anne and Albert had two sons in quick succession, Stephen James (born in 1891) and Albert John (1892).

By 1895, the butchery was sold and both families shifted to the Manawatu. An advertisement in 1897, announces that Albert has purchased the Travellers’ Rest Hotel in Palmerston North. By the turn of the century the family were at the Royal Hotel in Bunnythorpe and later the Masonic Hotel in Ashhurst. As well as being the publican, applications for licenses published in newspapers of the time list AG Havill as the owner. Mary Anne’s position would have become very comfortable. She had another two sons, Percy Martin born in 1894 and Kenneth Francis Bernard in 1902. Her two eldest sons feature in reports of boxing matches in the district. Percy Martin Havill served in World War 1.

By 1925, Albert was also the owner of the Family Hotel in Palmerston North and had constructed Havill Street, off Rangitikei Street.

Mary Anne Havill died at Palmerston North Hospital on 29 April 1938. Her requiem mass was held at St Patrick’s Church and she was buried at the Terrace End Cemetery.

Sources

Births Deaths and Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/ https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18900818.2.9 Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8749, 18 August 1890, Page 2

New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-95LY-4Q?cc=1865481&wc=4BCL-W96%3A1045247901%2C1045279601 : 15 October 2015), Napier Court > Probate records 1870-1898 P567, P571, P551-P577 > image 112 of 315; Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WOODEX18931229.2.10 Woodville Examiner, Volume XI, Issue 2137, 29 December 1893, Page 2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WOODEX18950624.2.9 Woodville Examiner, Volume XIII, Issue 2383, 24 June 1895, Page 2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WOODEX18970825.2.28.1 Woodville Examiner, Volume XV, Issue 2699, 25 August 1897, Page 4

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19000305.2.17Manawatu Standard, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 6638, 5 March 1900, Page 3

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FS19140610.2.10 Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 2377, 10 June 1914, Page 2

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19250505.2.58.6 Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2672, 5 May 1925, Page 10

Origins of Street Names https://manawatuheritage.pncc.govt.nz/item/c6719f88-2bad-44d6-89af-0c75b6db8e8e

Online Cenotaph https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/search?n=Percy+Havill

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19380429.2.2 Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 127, 29 April 1938, Page 1

Palmerston North City Council https://www.pncc.govt.nz/services/cemetery-and-cremation-search/warrant/?id=24044

Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

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