Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Ann McMillan was born about 1852 in Scotland. She married William Berwick in 1879 in New Zealand. They had nine children.
In 1883 William, a labourer, was declared bankrupt - he later became a wharf labourer and was president of the wharf labourer's union.
About 1912 William and Mary separated. Mary continued living in Caversham and William moved to Princes St. Mary worked as a grocer.
Mary died on 11 February 1919 just one day after her son Robert, an ex- soldier, who died of tuberculosis at the Pleasant Valley sanatorium.
Mary’s will excludes her husband and two of her daughters from any way partaking of her estate.
Mary is buried in the Southern Cemetery with a son.
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
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