Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Garratt was born in 1858 in Cambridge, England. She was the third daughter of Joseph Garrat, an attorney and solicitor, and Ann Oliver Ostler.
Mary spent her early life in Cambridge until both her parents died in 1865. She lived for a time with her aunt Sarah Jackson and family in Ecclesfield, Yorkshire until, in 1877, she emigrated to Otago on the Waipa.
In 1879 Mary married Thomas Douglas, a widower whose wife had died suddenly in 1878 and left him with three small children.
Mary and Thomas had two children of their own, one who died in infancy, before Thomas died in 1892 at Josephine St, Caversham.
On 28 January 1895 Mary married Stephen James Gilbert, a widower with four children.
The 1896 electoral roll shows Stephen and Mary living in Josephine St but in 1911 Stephen was living at Morrison St, Caversham and there is no sign of Mary. There are no further records of Mary after 1896, and she is not mentioned in Stephen’s will in written in 1928.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM online NZ https://www.bdmhisoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
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