Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Susannah/Susie Jones was born in Geelong, Victoria, Australia in 1856 – the daughter of George Jones, a bootmaker, and Ann Eliza Adams. (See 43 Ann Eliza Jones)
Her family came to New Zealand in the mid 1860s where Susannah married Joseph Booth, a commission agent, on 20 December 1877 in Timaru. Her sister (See 43 Mary J Hood) also married the same day.
Susannah and Joseph had two sons before Joseph died in 1882 – he is buried with his first wife in the Old Oamaru Cemetery.
Susannah re-married on 4 December 1889 at St Luke’s Church, Oamaru to Charles Wilkinson Cooke, a widower with three daughters & a grain merchant.
When she signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Oamaru.
About 1910 they moved to Greymouth until Charles’ health failed and they shifted to Christchurch.
Charles died there in 1921 – he is buried in the Bromley Cemetery.
Susannah died at her sister Mary’s home in Auckland on 7 May 1940 – she was cremated at Waikumete Cemetery and her ashes are interred there.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au