Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Laura Allen was born in 1860 in Cambourne, Cornwall — the daughter of John Goodfellow Allen, a builder, and Dorothy Gilbert.
She emigrated to Otago with her parents in 1861 on the Chile.
They settled in Mornington in Dunedin and Laura attended Mornington School.
She married Alexander Brown, a watchmaker, at the Trinity Wesleyan Church on 8 April 1884 and they had six children.
The family lived in Roslyn, Dunedin where Laura signed the suffrage petition.
They later lived in Milton then in Taieri Mouth where they had a small farm.
Laura died on 20 April 1932 and Alexander died in 1935, they are buried in the Brown family grave in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
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