Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Previously transcribed as S Welmes.
Clarissa Woolley was born in 1840 in Leicestershire, England, the daughter of Samuel Woolley, a bookkeeper, and Maria Lacey.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1849 on the Ajax. She married Charles Richard Nelmes in 1862.
They lived in Waikouaiti where Clarissa signed the suffrage petition.
They had no children but they adopted two sons, one who died aged 18 months. They also appear to have fostered many children over the years.
Charles died at Waikouaiti in 1913 and Clarissa died in Oamaru on September 7th 1935. They are buried together in the St John’s Anglican Cemetery.
Her obituary said she “was of a kindly nature, and during her long life she made many friends”.
