Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Theresa Gertrude Connolly was born about 1843 in Ireland – the daughter of John Connolly, a shoemaker.
She married John Fotterell, a painter, on 6 January 1869 in Dublin. They had two sons before they emigrated to Otago in 1872 on the Hydaspes and settled in Dunedin.
In 1880 John attempted suicide and a subscription list was started for the family which paid their outstanding bills with £47 in cash also presented to Mary. She thanked the contributors 'to whom I and my children shall ever feel grateful.'
John appears to have embarked on a life of petty crime after this, serving four prison sentences over the following 10 years.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition she was living in Canning St, Mornington.
Around this time John was imprisoned for two years in Wellington after which he moved to Victoria, Australia where he continued his criminal escapades.
He died in Ballarat in 1927 and is buried in the New Ballarat Cemetery.
In the 1910s Mary moved to Christchurch with her son – she died there on 21 January 1921 and is buried in the Sydenham Cemetery.
Sources
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
Christchurch City Council http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com
Public Record Office Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au
Irish Genealogy https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/