Eliza Theresa Nelson

Surname:

Nelson

Given names:

Eliza Theresa

Given address:

South Dunedin

Sheet No: 30

Town/Suburb:

South Dunedin

City/Region:

Dunedin

Notes:

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Eliza Theresa Walsh was born on 30 December 1861 in Hobart, Tasmania – the daughter of John Walsh, a master mariner, and Mary Lindgren. (See 242 Mary Walsh)

In the early 1860s Eliza’s family moved to Lyttleton.

She married John Hays, also a master mariner, in 1882 and they had two daughters.

John died in 1886 and is buried in the Lyttleton Cemetery.

She re-married in 1889 to Peter Nelson, a seaman, - they had six children and when Eliza signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Braemar St, South Dunedin.

In 1897 they obtained the licence of Coney’s Family Hotel in Portobello, on the Otago Peninsula, which later became the Portobello Hotel.

Peter died there in 1901, he is buried with one of their sons in the Northern Cemetery.

Eliza took over the licence for the hotel which she ran until 1909.

In later life she moved to Napier to be closer to her children, she died there on 9 November 1934 and she is buried in the Park Island Cemetery.