suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Muff
Given names: 
Mrs
Given address: 
Christchurch
Sheet No: 199
Town/Suburb: 
No suburb given
City/Region: 
Christchurch
Notes: 

*This may be either Mary Ann Muff, mother of Robert George Muff or Jessie Mary Muff, wife of Robert George Muff. Both biographies are below:

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Mary Ann (known as Ann) Roberts was born about 1825 in Evenley, Northamptonshire, England – the daughter of John Roberts, an agricultural labourer, and Jane Davis.

She had a son in 1850 and the following year she married Isaac Muff, a coachman, in London.

Shortly after their marriage the family went to Sweden where they had a further five children.

They returned to England in the late 1850s where there next five children were born and one of their daughters died.

The family emigrated to Canterbury in 1874 on the Duke of Edinburgh and they settled in Christchurch.

Isaac died in 1881, and is buried in the Barbadoes Street Cemetery.

When Ann signed the suffrage petition she was living with two of her daughters in Linwood, Christchurch.

She died at her home on 3 June 1901 and is buried in the Linwood Cemetery.

Sources

Family Search https://www.familysearch.org

Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk

GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk

Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

Christchurch City Council http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com

Biographical information provided by Lillie Le Dorré for the He Tohu exhibition:

Mrs Jessie Mary Muff was born about 1862 to parents Caroline and Robert Billens. 

Her parents had married on 16 April 1843 at Westminster, London. They had eight of their children in London, and then emigrated to Lyttelton, arriving on 5 January 1859 aboard the Clontarf. They had further children, including Jessie, in New Zealand.

Jessie married Robert George Muff in 1885, and together they had ten children: Alice Caroline, William Robert, Eva, Dorothy Lucy, Herbert Laurence, Margaret Winifred, Jessie Louisa, Dudley Robert, Kathleen Frances, and Selwyn Frederick. Selwyn was born when Jessie was 46 years old.

In March 1905, the family were robbed while out of the house.  A watch, gold pin, silver button hook, and two silver brooches were taken During the trial of the accused robber, Jessie provided evidence. The accused pleaded guilty and was sentenced at the Supreme Court.

Jessie Muff died on 15 December 1939, aged 77 years, and was buried at the Bromley Cemetery in Christchurch. Her husband, Robert, died on 21 May 1927, aged 74.

Her sisters-in-law, Alice Emma Muff and M. Muff, signed the same sheet.

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

Community contributions

No comments have been posted about Mrs Muff

What do you know?