Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Esther Bradford was born in 1861 in Victoria, Australia. The eldest child of Thomas Bradford and Elizabeth (Betsy) Bell Fisackerly.
Her parents apparently did not marry as in her father’s will her mother was called my “reputed wife” and the children were “my reputed children”.
Esther came to New Zealand with her parents as an infant and they settled in Merton, near Waikouaiti, where they had a farm.
She married William Thomas Williams, a baker, in 1883. They had eight children.
Esther signed the suffrage petition in Waikouaiti before the family moved to Dunedin a few years later.
One of their sons died in the First World War, in 1918.
William died in August 1925, and Esther died shortly after on December 5th. They are buried with one of their sons in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
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