Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sophia Brown was born in 1871 in New Zealand – the daughter of George Brown, a farmer, and Elizabeth Armstrong. (See 110 Elizabeth Brown)
Sophia grew up on the family farm at Wairuna near Clinton in South Otago where she signed the suffrage petition.
Sophia married Gavin Maxwell Cooper, a farmer, on 2 September 1896.
They had four children and lived at Waikoikoi in South Otago.
Gavin died in 1923 and Sophia continued to run the farm.
In 1927 she was charged with failing to clear land of gorse and failing to cut gorse hedges at the proper season.
Sophia died at Gore on 19 October 1933, she is buried with Gavin in the Waikoikoi Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
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