Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann McHugh was born about 1837 in Quebec, Canada – the daughter of William McHugh, a stevedore, and Julia Ann Lynch.
She came to New Zealand with her parents in the 1860s and she married George Bidgood, a butcher, in July 1864 at St Paul’s Church, Dunedin.
They had five children, one who died in infancy and in the 1870s they were running the Commercial Hotel at Twelve Mile Landing on the West Coast. They also lived at No Town where George was a partner in a store.
In 1882 George drowned while droving cattle across the New River – his body was not found.
Mary appears to have had a daughter three years later and when she signed the suffrage petition she was living in Greymouth.
She died on 18 May 1916 at Mrs Jones’ Nursing Home in Greymouth and is buried in the Karoro Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/