Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Honor Dawson was born in Lewisham, Kent, England in 1852 – the daughter of Benjamin Dawson and Hannah Hurren.
She emigrated to Otago with her parents and brother on the Rajah in 1853 and the family settled, at first, in Dunedin.
They later moved to the Waihola district south of Dunedin where they had a farm.
Mary married Alexander Grant, a railway worker, on 9 July 1875 at All Saints Church, Dunedin.
They had five children and, when Mary signed the suffrage petition, the family were living in York Place, Dunedin.
The family later moved to Auckland where Alexander died in 1925 shortly after they had celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary.
Mary died on 26 October 1930 and is buried with Alexander in the Purewa Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Purewa Cemetery https://www.purewa.co.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