Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Noble Brown Keay was born in 1867 in New Zealand – the daughter of James Keay, a storekeeper, and Margaret Noble Brown. (See 79 Margaret Keay)
She lived in Queenstown with her family where she signed the suffrage petition.
Mary married James George Farrant, a cook, on 12 December 1895 at the Queenstown Wesleyan Church. After the wedding breakfast 'the couple left by steamer en route for Stewart Island' to spend their honeymoon.
They had six children, their first born twin daughters died very shortly after birth.
Mary died on 12 April 1941 at her home in Queenstown, her obituary said she 'was of a quiet and unassuming nature and devoted her life to the upbringing of her family...She was kindly dispositioned and won the profound respect of a wide circle of friends'.
James died later that year in September, they are buried together in the Queenstown 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
Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.govt.nz/