Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Jane McNeill was born about 1834 in County Down, Ireland. She was the widow of John McNeill. When she signed the suffrage petition, Mary and her daughter Margaret were living in MacLaggan St running a confectionery shop. Mary and her son-in-law Charles Sullivan later ran a drapery and a confectionery shop under the Crown Hotel, on the corner of MacLaggan and Rattray Streets.
In December of 1907 a fire occurred in Mrs Sullivan’s drapery shop. A boy reading the gas meter dropped a lit match among some inflammable goods which rapidly set fire to the shop and damaged the confectionery shop next door. An auction of the damaged goods was held a few days later. Charles Sullivan and Mary Jane McNeill took a case against the City Corporation for damages from the fire and finally received £600.
The shop re-opened in 1908 and continued trading until 1911 when it was put into receivership.
Mary died on 22 July 1919 and she is buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
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
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