Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Wilhelmina Pike was born about 1858 in County Derry, Ireland – the daughter of Isabella Pike. (See 124 Isabella Pike)
She emigrated to Otago in 1879 on the Westland accompanied by her sister Ann Bella. (See 124 A B Palmer)
When Wilhelmina signed the suffrage petition she was living with her mother in Maori Hill, Dunedin.
She married John Bell, a widower with three sons, in 1896.
They lived at Belfast in Canterbury where John died in 1898 due to an accident at the Belfast freezing works – he is buried in the St Paul’s Anglican Cemetery in Papanui.
Wilhelmina remained in Belfast, she died there on 14 June 1930 – she is buried in the Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch.
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
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/