Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Bell was born in 1842 in Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England – the daughter of Thomas Bell, a butcher, and Jane Woodman.
She married Thomas Lee, a lead ore smelter, on 27 April 1861 in Haltwhistle and they had six children.
In 1880 the family emigrated to Otago on the City of Sparta and when Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living at 'Paradise Farm', at Highcliff on the Otago Peninsula.
Mary died at their home on 19 January 1898 and Thomas died in 1916 at their son’s home in Goodwood.
They are buried together in the Andersons Bay Cemtery.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
