Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Stirling was born in about 1829 in Scotland. She married Robert Gartshore, a brickmaker, on 4 April 1852 in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. They had two children in Scotland before they emigrated to Otago in 1858 on the Palmyra.
A further eight children were born in Otago; three of their children died in childhood.
The family were living in Russell St, Dunedin when Mary signed the suffrage petition.
Mary died at her home on 16 November 1909 and Robert died the following year. They are buried in the family grave in the Southern 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