Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Euphemia McKenzie was born in 1865 at Waiwera South in South Otago – the daughter of David McKenzie, a farmer, and Catherine Anderson.
She married Owen Benfell, a bookseller, in 1892 and they had three children, one who died in infancy.
When Euphemia signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Hope Rd, North East Valley, Dunedin.
Euphemia suffered from “fits of depression sometimes lasting for weeks, and sometimes for days only”.
On 23 March 1919 the family went to church leaving Euphemia in bed as she “did not feel like getting up”. When they returned they found a note on the table “stating that nobody was to blame for her act”.
They found Euphemia lying face down in the bath in about six inches of water. She was unable to be revived.
The Coroner found that she “drowned herself while in an unsound state of mind”.
Owen died in 1935 – he is buried with Euphemia and their infant daughter 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
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.
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