Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Ada Florence Burgoyne Gerkens was born in 1866 in New Zealand - the daughter of Claus Gerkens, a farmer, and Theresa Catherine.
The family lived in St Bathans in Central Otago where her mother died in childbirth in 1871.
Ada married Percy William Irving Laing, an architect, in Dunedin on 28 May 1888.
They had three children, one who died in infancy, and when Ada signed the suffrage petition, the family were living in Albany St, Dunedin.
Ada died on 16 December 1900 at the age of 33.
Percy remarried in 1908 and he died in 1915 while climbing Ben Lomond near Queenstown.
Ada and Percy are buried together in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz