Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Selina Follett Cornish was born in 1861 in New Zealand – the daughter of Frederick Cornish and Mary Ann Birch.
She married, leather dresser, James Boaden in Dunedin on 21 September 1886.
They had three children and when Selina signed the suffrage petition they were living in Kaikorai Valley, Dunedin.
In 1897 they moved to Milton where James worked as a wool buyer at the Bruce Woollen Mills.
In 1900 the family moved to Kakanui where James managed the wool scouring works.
Seven years later Selina and James went on a trip to the 'Old Country'. An evening of 'dancing, music and song' was held in Kakanui followed by the presentation of marble clock for James and a gold brooch for Selina.
James died in 1937 and Selina died at her daughter’s home in Oamaru on 21 December 1945 – they are buried together in the Old Oamaru Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
NZ Intentions to Marry Project https://itm.howison.co.nz/