Norah Coffee

Biographical information provided by Stefanie Lash, Archives New Zealand, for the He Tohu exhibition:

This surname is normally spelled ‘Coffey’, and this is how Norah appears in records. She was born Honorah O’Brien and emigrated to New Zealand in 1878, aged 21. She came from Cork, Ireland, and was a domestic servant before she married. In 1884 Norah married James Coffey, a railway worker. Norah and James had six children in eight years; five daughters and a son. Honorah died in 1939, aged 82.