Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann Bretton was born about 1835 in Cambridge, Oxfordshire, England, the daughter of Stephen Bretton, an eating house keeper, and Sophia.
Mary married William Ross, a Scottish draper’s assistant, in Southwark, Surrey in 1864. They had three children, one who died in infancy, before they moved to Sutherlandshire where their next two children were born.
The family emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the Dunedin – their youngest daughter Nellie died on the voyage.
When Mary Ann signed the suffrage petition, the family was living in Clarendon St, Dunedin. Her daughter, Ada S Ross, also signed the petition.
They later moved to Stafford Avenue where William died in 1915. Mary Ann died on 24 March 1916. William and Mary are buried in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz