Mrs Morasci

Signed family name

Morasci

Signed given name

Mrs

Given address

Leith Valley

Sheet number

112

Town/Suburb

Leith Valley

City/Region

Otago

Notes

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Margaret Healy married Mark Busanich in Victoria, Australia in 1862 and they had five children, two who died in infancy, before Mark died in 1871.

Margaret and the children came to Dunedin where she married Charles/Carlo Morasci in 1881.

They had three daughters, two who died in infancy and when Margaret signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Leith Valley.

Margaret grew strawberries on their land and she won prizes for her produce at local shows.

In 1896 Margaret opened a fruit and confectionery business in George St, Dunedin 'in conjunction with the Strawberry Gardens, Leith Valley' called the Central Café.

In 1899 their 'four roomed cottage' was totally destroyed by fire when one of her daughters knocked over a kerosene lamp. The house appears to have been rebuilt and was sold along with 2 ½ acres of land known as Morasci’s Gardens in 1901 due to Charles’ ill health.

He died in 1922 and Margaret died on 3 August 1938 – they are buried together in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.

Margaret’s death record give a birth date of 1851 which would mean she was 11 when she first married – possibly born between 1840 and 1845.