Originally transcribed as M Rich
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sarah Lavinia was born about 1842 and was married to Joseph Rich, a miner.
They had one daughter, Elizabeth Ann, and first appear in New Zealand in 1872 when living at Macraes Flat north of Dunedin.
Joseph place a newspaper advertisement stating that 'I will not be responsible for any debts contracted by my wife Sara Rich.'
Two years later Sarah took Joseph to court to get 'protection for her earnings, and the custody of her daughter.'
Joseph 'admitted having left his wife for fourteen months last past, and maintained that he had good grounds for having done so, but had no objection to her having protection for her earnings, nor the protection of her daughter.' The order was granted.
In 1885 a boarding house at Macraes owned by Mrs Sarah Rich, known as the Temperance Hotel was totally destroyed by fire.
When Sarah signed the suffrage petition she was a boarding house keeper in George St, Dunedin.
Joseph died at Macraes in 1905, he left his worldly goods to their daughter Elizabeth.
Sarah died on 14 December 1915 in Dunedin, she is buried with Joseph and their daughter in the Macraes Southern Cemetery.
Sources
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Waitaki District Council https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/our-services