Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary McFarlane Mitchell was born on 23 March 1856 in Alva, Stirlingshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Mitchell, a hand loom weaver, and Anne McFarlane.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1857 on the Robert Henderson and they settled in Dunedin.
Mary married Robert Davidson in 1876 and they had 10 children, three who died in infancy. When Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living in Main Rd, South Dunedin.
They later moved to 'Sawmills', Woodhaugh in Dunedin where Mary died on 2 August 1928.
Robert died in 1935 – the are buried in the family grave in the Northern 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