Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Mary Pinkerton was born about 1830 in Ireland – the daughter of William Pinkerton, a farmer.
She married Robert Byers in 1867 in County Antrim and soon after they emigrated to Otago.
They had three children and lived in Dunedin.
In 1875 Robert, and another man, died when they were working on road cutting and a bank fell on them – Robert died shortly afterwards in hospital.
A concert was held in the Temperance Hall in aid of the widows and orphans of the two men which raised between £50 and £60.
Mary married quarryman William Barr in 1878 and when she signed the suffrage petition they were living in Mechanic St, North East Valley.
She died at her home on 27 June 1910 and is buried in the Northern Cemetery with Robert and her daughter Jane.
Her obituary said she was “highly respected by reason of the quiet, unostentatious, yet numerous deeds of kindness she performed, and the splendid spirit she invariably displayed, which won for her many friends. She had a long and faithful record as a Sunday school teacher, and was, until a few years ago, in charge of the Young Women’s Bible Class in connection with the King Street Congregational Sunday School – a work she dearly loved, and carried on with singular success. Her services were freely given to all kinds of Christian work, and pastor and superintendent could always depend on her loyal support and hearty co-operation”.
William died in 1912, he is also buried in the Northern 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
Irish Genealogy https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/
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