Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mary Jane Woods was born about 1862 in County Fermanagh, Ireland.
She emigrated to Otago in 1883 on the Forfarshire and she married Arthur Edward Mellick, a farmer, on 8 January 1885 at St Joseph’s Church, Dunedin.
When their first child was born, in 1887, they were living at Sandymount on the Otago Peninsula.
Arthur was declared bankrupt later that year and they then leased the 'St Clair Coffee Palace, Refreshment Rooms and Telephone Bureau'.
They had a further three children and, in 1889, Arthur had opened a shop in Manor St selling fruit lollies, confectionery and aerated waters.
When Mary signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Kelvin Grove, North East Valley - Arthur was working as a tram conductor.
Arthur died in 1916 and Mary died at her home on 26 December 1941, they are buried together in the Andersons Bay 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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
