suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Mears
Given names: 
Annie E.
Given address: 
Mt Eden
Sheet No: 20
Town/Suburb: 
Mt Eden
City/Region: 
Auckland
Notes: 

Biography and image contributed by Elaine Bell (great-great niece), Auckland, NZ

Ann Elizabeth Mears, known to her family as Tottie, was born in Auckland on 9 March 1858, two years after the arrival in the Colony of her parents Robert Samuel Lincoln and Maria Augusta (nee Scarlett). She was baptised on 31 October 1858 in the Beresford Street Congregational Church.

In the same church, on 18 January 1882, she married William Eden Mears. Their first child, daughter Winifred was born the following year, followed in 1885 by daughter Dorothy and in 1888 by son Abraham.

In 1891 Ann's husband William Mears who was a book-seller in Queen Street, died suddenly of typhoid fever. Ann continued to live in the family home, 'Stratheden', 280 Mt Eden Rd, Auckland. She advertised her services as a music teacher, and was an active member of the Mount Eden Congregational Church, often playing the piano and singing in concerts at the church.

She took a keen interest in welfare work concerning women and children, and was an early member of the philanthropic committee affiliated to the National Council of Women.

Ann Elizabeth Mears died on 13 August 1941 and is buried in Waikaraka Cemetery beside her parents and her three children who prdeceased her.

Ann's mother M. A. Lincoln also signed the 1893 Women's Suffrage Petition.

Annie Mears

Sources

Birth and death certificates from the Registrar General of New Zealand
Family papers
 

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

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