Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Young was born about 1837 in Coldstream, Berwickshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Shedden Young, a farmer, and Hannah Mossman.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1858 on the Lord Worsley and they settled North Otago where Mary married Robert Scott Murray in 1862.
They had six children and farmed at Merton, North East Valley and Shag Valley before moving to Puerua in 1887 where Mary signed the suffrage petition.
Robert died at their home 'Murrayvale' in 1898. In 1903 Mary held a clearing sale prior to leasing the farm.
She moved to Mosgiel, near Dunedin, where she died on 30 December 1904, she is buried with Robert in the Romahapa Cemetery.
Her obituary said she was 'of a naturally retiring disposition' and 'a fine hearty type of Scotch woman'.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/