Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Donald was born on 18 October 1848 in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland – the daughter of Alexander Donald, an agricultural labourer, and Elizabeth Watt.
She married Magnus Cormack, a customs officer, on 27 July 1875 in Aberdeen and they had four children.
The family emigrated to Otago in 1883 on the Nelson - they first lived at North Heads, Port Chalmers where their four-year-old son Magnus died in 1884.
A further three sons were born and when Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Reid St, South Dunedin and Magnus was working as a hawker.
He later had a chemist’s shop in South Dunedin.
Mary died at her home on 16 September 1915 and Magnus died in 1920, they are buried together in the Andersons Bay 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