Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eve Clasper was born on 25 September 1835 in Sunderland, Durham, England, the daughter of Henry Clasper, a mariner, and Susanna Douglas.
She married William Best, a mariner, on 10 July 1853 in Bishop Wearmouth, Durham.
They had four children, two dying in infancy, before Eve travelled with her two remaining daughters, to Victoria, Australia in 1860 on the Zoboah.
They had another daughter in Victoria in 1861, before travelling to New Zealand in 1862. Another seven children were born after their arrival. The family lived in Port Chalmers near Dunedin, where their son Henry died in 1876.
In January 1891 William was 'lost at sea' when the Kakanui with all 19 souls on board was declared lost.
When she signed the suffrage petition, Eve was living in Castle St, Dunedin with her family.
She died on 11 May 1894 and is buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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
Public Record Office Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au/