Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Sophia Jane Stevens was born on 12 January 1854 in St Helier, Jersey – the daughter of Stephen Stevens, a grocer and inn keeper, and Susan Jane Fleury. (See 155 Jane S Stevens)
She emigrated to Otago with her mother and brother in 1879 on the Oamaru – presumably her father had arrived earlier.
Sophia married Alexander Mutch, a railway employee, in 1880 and they had eight children.
When she signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Tay St, Invercargill.
hey moved to Fortrose in 1898 then to Dunedin in 1900.
Alexander died in 1904 and Sophia died on 20 July 1935 – they are buried in the family grave 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
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Jerripedia http://search.jerripediabmd.net/
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