Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Jane Smith Bridges was born about 1849 in Langport, Somersetshire, England. She arrived in New Zealand about 1876 and in 1878 she married Thomas William Manderson Stothart, a blacksmith at the Hillside railway workshops. They had one son.
Thomas and Elizabeth were active in the Cargill Rd Wesleyan Church and Thomas founded the sick club and library at Hillside Workshops.
Thomas died in 1905 and, in 1907, Elizabeth married John Coward, a carpenter from Christchurch.
John died the following year and Elizabeth continued living in Christchurch until just before her death. She died in Dunedin on 8 July 1932 and is buried with her first husband and son 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
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz