Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Eliza Jane Vaughan was born about 1859 in America.
She married James Roland Colyer, from Bluff, about 1879 in America before travelling to New Zealand.
They lived, for a time, in Invercargill before moving to Ashburton where James worked as a clerk in the Magistrate’s Court.
They had 10 children – Eliza died the day their last child was born on 24 April 1895, her daughter survived.
Eliza is buried in the Ashburton Cemetery. Her obituary said 'her decease will leave a blank in a large family that cannot be filled, and in a wide circle of friends that no new face can supply.'
James re-married that year to Emma Catherine Prichard (See 278 E C Prichard), a widow with five children.
They had a further six children and in the late 1890s moved to Invercargill where James died in 1915, he is buried with Eliza in the Ashburton Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Victoria University http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/
Ashburton District Council https://infoservices.adc.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