Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sarah Anne was born about 1840 and was married to Bryan O’Rawe, possibly in Ireland as Bryan was born in County Antrim. Their daughter Catherine/Kitty was born about 1864 and they seem to have arrived in New Zealand about 1865 as that is when Sarah jnr. was born here. Mary Minnie O’Rawe was born in 1878.
The family lived in Dunedin and Bryan was a milkman, hawker and later a labourer. Bryan was adjudged bankrupt in the mid 1870’s and it around this time that the family moved to Caversham.
Bryan O’Rawe died in 1891 and in 1893 Sarah and Kitty were working as bootfitters, son Bryan as a bootmaker & Minnie as a boot machinist living at Brunswick St, South Dunedin.
Catherine O’Rawe died on 29 August 1917, Mary Minnie on 12 January 1931 and their mother Sarah Anne on 16 May 1932. They are buried with Bryan in a family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Sarah jnr. died on 25 October 1935 and is also buried in the Southern Cemetery, not in the family plot.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.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