suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Sismey
Given names: 
Mrs
Given address: 
Leith St
Sheet No: 169
Town/Suburb: 
Central Dunedin
City/Region: 
Dunedin
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.

Ann Elizabeth, known as Elizabeth, Ashwell was born in Leicestershire, England in 1855 – the daughter of Harry Ashwell, a general machinist, & Elizabeth Arblaster.

In 1871, 14 year old Elizabeth was living with her widowed mother & siblings in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. Also boarding with the family was 21 year old Robert James Tomlinson, an ironmonger’s assistant.

Elizabeth & Robert married later that year on May 9th & their daughter Elizabeth was born the following year.

What happened to Robert is unclear – in 1877 Elizabeth married William Arbuckle Towers, an ironmonger.

They emigrated to New Zealand & settled in Dunedin where they had 5 sons, the eldest 2 who died in infancy.

William died in 1889 when their youngest child was one year old - he is buried in the Southern Cemetery.

Elizabeth remarried in 1891 to George Henry Sismey, a seaman, & they had a daughter in 1893.

When Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition they were living in Leith Street.

Soon after this the family moved to Auckland where, in the 1910’s they ran a boarding house.

George died in 1932 & Elizabeth died at her daughter’s home on June 3rd1938, they are buried together in the Hillsborough Cemetery.

Source

BDM Online NZ

DCC Cemetery Records

Family Search

Free BMD

General Records Office UK

Otago Nominal Index

Papers Past

Find a Grave

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

2 comments have been posted about Mrs Sismey

What do you know?

ngairedith

Posted: 26 May 2019

Ann Elizabeth (nee Ashwell 1855-1938) married William Arbuckle Towers (1850-1889) in Scotland. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Towers 1873-1910, emigrated to Dunedin about 1880 and had sons in NZ, 1883 - 1931 Harry Albert Towers, 1885 - 1960 Matthew Arbuckle Towers & 1888 - 1939 Arthur Ashwell Towers.
William Arbuckle Towers died 14 April 1889 in Dunedin Hospital aged 38 and is buried at Southern cemetery.
The widow Ann Elizabeth next married George Henry Sismey in Dunedin in 1891 and had a daughter, Emily Sismey 1893-1958.
Ann & George later moved to Auckland. George Henry Sismey died April 1932 aged 75 & Ann Elizabeth Sismey died May 1938 aged 83 (of Natural Causes/Old Age) and they are buried at Hillsborough

Of Note: their 1st daughter, Elizabeth Towers married William Aitken (1870-1947) in Dunedin in 1894 and their first son, Alexander Craig 'Alec' Aitken became a Professor in Edinburgh. He became a Reader in statistics in 1936, the year he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Ten years later he was appointed to Whittaker's chair.
He had an incredible memory (he knew π to 2000 places). He had the idea of accelerating the convergence of a numerical method. He also introduced a method of progressive linear interpolation. In algebra he made contributions to the theory of determinants. He wrote several books, one of the most famous being The theory of canonical matrices (1932). There is much about him on the net and can be seen on youtube.
Another of Elizabeth's sons, Leslie Milner Aitken was a journalist and the chief sub-editor of the Christchurch 'Press'

Andrew Ivamy

Posted: 04 Oct 2013

There are both "I" and "E" variations of the spelling of the family name. It certainly looks like "Ivmay" However, looking at the "Mrs" makes me think the second and third letters are actually 'rs' while the first letter looks more like an "S" which would make "Srsmey"

brothers and sisters of the time had differant spelling "Issmey" and "Iffmey" as well as Ivimey (and Ivimey-Cook) are found in the UK.

If a George Ivamy is residing at the same address (which I doubt) then this could be his sister.