Originally transcribed as Mrs Nellbourn
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann Smith was born about 1835 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire – the daughter of George Smith and Ann.
She emigrated to Otago with her parents and four siblings in 1858 on the Nourmahal and they settled at Broad Bay on the Otago Peninsula.
Mary married John Thomas Wellbourn, a farmer, in Dunedin in 1859 and they had 10 children, two who died in childhood.
Mary was apparently the first woman 'to go to the Gabriel’s Gully gold rush, where she did not see another woman for three months'.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition they were still living at Broad Bay.
John died at their home in April 1918 and Mary died on 29 November the same year, they are buried together in the Broad Bay Cemetery.
Mary’s obituary said she 'was of a gently and loving disposition, and was loved by all with whom she came in contact'.
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
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions