Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann Ewers was born about 1848 in England.
She married Frederick Symonds in London in 1871 and they emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the Buckinghamshire.
They settled in Dunedin where Frederick worked as an engine driver and they had seven children, one who died in infancy.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Phillip St, Kensington.
Mary died at her home on 25 October 1907 and Frederick died in 1916 – they are buried together in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz