Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Fisher was born in 1860 in Longtown, Cumberlandshire, England – the daughter of John Fisher, a wood turner, and Ann Birrell.
Elizabeth worked as a pupil teacher before her marriage to James Smith, a teacher, on 15 October 1884.
They lived in Kirkton in Scotland and had four children before emigrating to Otago in the early 1890s.
They were to have a further four children in New Zealand and when Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition they were living at the Pine Hill School in Dunedin.
Their eldest son Alexander died in France during WWI.
James died at their home in Abbotsford in 1926 and Elizabeth died on 8 March 1942, they are buried in the family grave in the Green Island 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
