Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Mary Haynes was born about 1869 in England.
She married farmer Charles Cooper in 1885 in New Zealand and they had eight children, two who died in infancy.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living at Waikaka, near Gore.
One of their sons died in 1917 during WW1 and a daughter died while nursing during the influenza epidemic in 1918.
In later life they retired to Dunedin where Charles died in 1932.
Mary died at her daughter’s home in Knapdale on 23 August 1961 – she is buried with Charles in the Gore Cemetery.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/