Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann Chynoweth was born in 1852 in Devon, England – the daughter of William Chynoweth, a miner, and Elizabeth Grose.
In 1859 Mary’s father and her uncle Thomas Honey sailed for Melbourne on the Shalimar. At the time of the 1861 census she was living with her mother, aunt (see 244 Harriet Chynoweth) and two cousins in Kenwyn, Cornwall.
Whether Mary and her mother came straight to New Zealand or travelled to Australia first is unknown.
Mary’s younger sister was born in 1865 in New Zealand and two years later her mother remarried bigamously, and her father started living with her aunt Harriet.
Mary married Phillip Mathews in 1869. They lived, at first, in Cromwell where Philip was declared bankrupt in 1883.
They later moved to Dunedin, and they had 11 children, one who died in infancy.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Cargill Road, Carisbrook in Caversham and Philip was mining in North Otago.
He died in 1895 when a coal mine collapsed while working alone – he was found a few days later.
Mary died in Dunedin on 15 August 1924 – she is buried with Philip in the family grave 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
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/