Biographical information provided by Jenny Robertson for the He Tohu exhibition:
Elizabeth Oaten Brown née Leith formerly Barker and subsequently Hood.
Elizabeth came to Dunedin, New Zealand as a small child from Australia. Her mother, Amelia Leith also signed the suffrage petition.
Widowed and bankrupt at only 29 with five small children Elizabeth quickly married an older wealthy bachelor, Thomas Brown. A daughter, Elizabeth Brown, was born in 1889. The family lived in the Catlins where Thomas developed farmland around Owaka. Thomas died suddenly in May 1893 and although he provided annuities for his wife, he left his estate to his brother William Brown and his sister Rachel Whitelaw.
According to newspaper accounts of a Supreme Court hearing in 1895, an action initiated by William forced Elizabeth to move her family back to Dunedin from the Catlins. An uncompromising executorship of Thomas’ estate by William led to further bankruptcy for Elizabeth. She struggled to support her family and look after her elderly parents.
In April 1895 Elizabeth married William Hood, upholsterer, furniture salesman, and energetic trade union activist of Stuart St. Each party to the marriage brought six children. In January 1901 Elizabeth died suddenly with acute pneumonia at just 41. She is buried in the Hood family grave in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Additional biographical details contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Oaten Leith was born in 1859 in Victoria, Australia – the daughter of Peter Leith and Ameila Oaten. (See 175 Amelia Leith)
The family moved to Dunedin in the mid 1860s and settled in Dunedin.
Elizabeth married George Barker, a hotelkeeper, in 1881 and they had five children.
George died at their home, the Panama Hotel, in March 1888, he is buried in the Southern Cemetery.
Elizabeth re-married on 9 February 1889 in Dunedin to 55-year-old Thomas Brown, a farmer from Owaka.
Elizabeth and Thomas had a daughter later that year and Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition in Owaka.
In April 1893 Thomas was severely burned when he upset the kerosene lamp beside his bed – he died two weeks later from his injuries.
After Thomas’ death Elizabeth moved back to Dunedin and lived at Macandrew Bay. She was declared bankrupt in 1894 and re-married on 8 April 1895 to William Hood, an upholsterer.
A long court case was held regarding Thomas Brown’s estate and Elizabeth’s suitability to bring up their daughter and manage her daughter’s allowance.
William Hood had gone to New South Wales for work leaving Elizabeth with a total of 12 children to care for.
The judge said that 'the mother is easy-going, good-natured & unbusinesslike' but made a ruling that the child be left with her mother.
Elizabeth died on 1 January 1901, at the age of 41, she is buried with two of William Hood’s infant children in the Northern Cemetery.
William moved to Auckland where he worked at the Labour Dept before retiring to live with his son in Paparata.
He died there in 1914 and is buried in the Bombay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au