suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Black
Given names: 
Mary
Given address: 
Maitland St
Sheet No: 129
Town/Suburb: 
Central Dunedin
City/Region: 
Dunedin
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Mary Buchanan was born on 22 October 1830 in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland – the daughter of Andrew Buchanan and Janet Black.

Mary married Andrew Black, a librarian, in Lanarkshire, in 1856. They had three children in Scotland before they emigrated to Otago in 1864 on the Vectis.

The Vectis was a cargo ship which carried 75 passengers. The immigration officer who inspected the ship on its arrival called it 'the dirtiest ship I ever boarded'.

Andrew worked for a time as the librarian at the Athenaeum Library in Dunedin’s Octagon. The family lived in Maitland St and then in the Octagon before once again living in Maitland St. Mary had three more children in Dunedin, one daughter dying in infancy. Mary's daughters, Janet and Anderina, also signed the suffrage petition.

Andrew died in 1897 and Mary died on 30 June 1921. They are buried in the family grave 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

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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