Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Blackwood was born about 1855 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland – the daughter of William Blackwood, a miner, and Martha McIndoe. (See 51 Martha Blackwood)
The family emigrated to Otago on the Alpine in 1859 and settled in Caversham, Dunedin.
Mary married John Simpson, a teacher, in 1880 – they lived at Moonlight Flat near Macraes north of Dunedin and had two children.
John died in 1883 at Mary’s parents’ house in Caversham, Dunedin. She married Edward Mills, a baker and widower with one child, on 16 August 1889 at her parent’s house.
Mary and Edward had three children and lived in Blue Spur near Lawrence in Central Otago where Mary signed the suffrage petition.
Edward died in 1906 and Mary died on 11 September 1929 at Gabriels Gully near Lawrence.
She is buried, presumably with Edward, in the Lawrence Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions