Mary Rosevear

Surname:

Rosevear

Given names:

Mary

Given address:

George Street

Sheet No: 52

Town/Suburb:

Central Dunedin

City/Region:

Dunedin

Notes:

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Mary Ann Miller Algie was born in 1859 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia – the daughter of Robert Algie, a stationer & bookseller, and Janet Rae Miller. (See 93 Mrs West)

The family travelled back to Scotland about 1861 before emigrating to Otago about 1864.

Mary’s father died the following year and her mother appears to have supported herself by running a fancy goods shop and working as a dressmaker and machinist.

Mary married Ernest Alfred John Willcocks Rosevear, an accountant, in 1889 and they had four children.

When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in George St, Dunedin.

Their two sons both died in the Great War and when Mary died on 15 May 1932 her obituary read she 'was a devoted and consistent member of the Trinity Methodist Church, and during her active years she spent much of her energy in working on behalf of the associations of which the church is the parent. She was one of the founders of the foreign missions auxiliary, and its first treasurer, and later secretary for many years.'

Ernest died in 1955 and is buried with Mary in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.