suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Bischiskie
Given names: 
Mrs Julius
Given address: 
Filleul St
Sheet No: 53
Town/Suburb: 
Central Dunedin
City/Region: 
Dunedin
Notes: 

Biographical information provided by Susanna Joe for the He Tohu exhibition:

Mary (also known by Maria or Marie) Gdanitz was 21 when she and her family arrived at Port Chalmers on the ship Palmerston in 1872 from Germany. Polish labourer Julius Bischiskie and his wife Anne were also on the Palmerston and Marie and Julius were married after Anne’s death in 1873. Living in Dunedin where Julius worked in breweries, tragedy struck on 22 February 1882 when three of the Bischiskie’s young children and their cousin died in an accidental fire in their home, despite desperate efforts by the parents to save them. Julius had a short-lived brewery in Gore, however a fire in 1897 totally destroyed the brewery and the dwelling occupied by the family. Fortunately there were no fatalities.  Back in Dunedin Mary outlived her husband and two sons. She died aged 93 in 1943 and is buried in Dunedin’s Southern Cemetery.

Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

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