Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Thirza Ann Chiles was born in 1863 in Worcestershire, England – the daughter of Samuel Chiles, an agricultural labourer, and Elizabeth Nash.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1874 on the Asia and they settled in Waikouaiti where she married Henry Beal, a labourer, on 27 November 1879.
They had 14 children one who died in infancy and lived all their lives in Waikouaiti where Thirza signed the suffrage petition.
Henry died at their home in 1928 and Thirza died on 8 July 1941 at her daughter’s home in Dunedin, they are buried in the St John’s Anglican Cemetery, Waikouaiti.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/