Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Helen Elizabeth Hammond was born about 1836.
She married livery stable keeper, John Bacon, in New Zealand in 1864 and they had nine children, three who appear to have died in infancy.
When Helen signed the suffrage petition the family were living in King St, Dunedin.
In 1899 John retired from the livery stables and the family moved to Broad Bay on the Otago Peninsula to take up farming.
Helen died at their home Ivy Lodge on 25 October 1910.
Her obituary said she was a “highly respected resident”, “gentle, kindly, and courteous, she was much liked by all who knew her, and much sympathy was felt for her in her declining years, when she was practically an invalid”.
John died in 1924 – he is buried with Helen in the Broad Bay Cemetery.
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
The 1893 electoral roll confirms Helen domestic duties Gt King St
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
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