Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Jane Johns was born in 1856 in Wales – the daughter of Ezekiel Johns, a miner, and Mary Uren. (See 82 Mrs E Johns)
In 1857 she sailed for Victoria, Australia with her parents and they lived there for the next 13 years.
About 1870 they returned to her parents’ birth place of Cornwall.
Mary married John Henry Uren, a blacksmith, on 3 July 1877, in Gwinear, Cornwall and two weeks later they sailed for Auckland on the Otaki - her parents and siblings were also on board.
They settled at Wetherstons near Lawrence and had five children.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition they were living at, nearby, Blue Spur.
When John retired in 1910 they retired in Dunedin where they celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1927.
Mary died on 8 November 1938 and John died in 1940, they are buried with one of their sons in the Andersons Bay 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