Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Leba Singer was born about 1862 in Australia – the daughter of Alexander Singer, a jeweller, and Rebecca Emma Langley.
She sailed for New Zealand with her family in 1863 on the Aldinga. They lived, at first, in Queenstown before moving to the West Coast in 1865.
Leba married, cook, Samuel Henry Morris in 1881 and they had eight children.
She signed the suffrage petition in Greymouth where she was 'for many years well known as a maternity nurse'.
Sometime in the 1910s Samuel moved to Canterbury – where and when he died in unclear.
In 1940 Leba received a centennial ribbon for 'long residence in New Zealand'.
She died on 5 September 1943 and is buried in the Karoro Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/