Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Gilchrist Morton was born in 1866 in South Otago – the daughter of William Morton, a farmer, and Jane Gilchrist. (See 106 Jane G Morton)
She married Andrew Shields, a farmer, on 1 September 1886 and they had seven children.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Purekireki in the Owaka Valley.
About 1910 they moved to farm at Puerua before retiring about 30 years later when they moved to Balclutha.
Andrew died in 1944 and Mary died on 16 June 1947, they are buried in the Balclutha 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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/