Mary Ann Prisk

Biographical information provided by Stefanie Lash, Archives New Zealand, for the He Tohu exhibition:

Mary Ann Prisk (nee Beer) emigrated from Cornwall on 4 December 1876 on the Rangitiki. She married Paul Prisk in 1877. Paul and Mary Ann had one child, Maria Knight Prisk, who lived for 9 months. 

Paul, a miner and labourer, was born in 1856 and died 1888 aged 34. He is buried at Linwood Cemetery in Christchurch. 

In January 1894, the Christchurch Star reported Mary Ann Prisk as the subject of a court case where a boy was charged with throwing stones at her house and damaging the door. Mary Ann was then living at Colombo St. North and had been harassed by a number of young boys. 

Mary Ann died on 13 January 1898 aged 46, just five years after signing the Petition. She is buried at Barbadoes Cemetery, Christchurch.