Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
May/Mary Williams was born about 1829 in Aberdeen, Scotland.
She emigrated to New Zealand in the early 1870s and she married George Williams, a miner, on 12 February 1873 at the Cromwell Manse in Central Otago.
They had no children and lived at Branch Creek, Cardrona where May signed the suffrage petition.
George died at the Arrowtown Hospital in 1900 – May was 'left without relatives, she has many warm friends in the Cardrona, the only place where she has resided since leaving Scotland, over 27 years ago'.
May died on 24 September 1913, also at the Arrowtown Hospital, where she had been a resident for some time, she is buried with George in the Cardrona Cemetery.
She was 'of a kind and generous disposition, and was very highly respected by the residents of Cardrona'.
Her will bequeathed her total estate to the Southland Hospital Board which was a total of £67 9s 3d.
Sources
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.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