Mrs E Johnson

Surname:

Johnson

Given names:

Mrs E

Given address:

Bluff Harbour

Sheet No: 341

Town/Suburb:

Bluff

City/Region:

Southland

Notes:

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Ellen Clover was born in 1845 in Colchester, Essex, England – the daughter of Charles Clover, a brewer, and Mary Ann Bines.

She married Ebenezer Johnson, a carpenter, in London in 1865 and they had four children, one who died in infancy.

The family emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the Adamant and had a further five children.

Ebenezer worked for the railways as a carpenter then became inspector of bridges. After this the family lived in Dipton before moving to Bluff in 1899 where he worked for the Bluff Harbour Board and where Ellen signed the suffrage petition.

In later life they retired to Oamaru where Ellen died in November 1920 at her daughter’s home.

Her obituary said she 'was one of the old identities of the port and possessed a buoyancy of spirit that, no doubt, contributed greatly to her longevity.'

Ebenezer died in 1938, they are buried together in the Oamaru Cemetery.