Biography contributed by Clare Cramond
Elizabeth Mary Stacey nee Turner was born in 1832 in Bath, England. She married Stephen Stacey in 1855. Stephen was a military settler in New Zealand by the 1860s. Stephen’s will mentions seven children and these include Stephen George and Mary Elizabeth who may have been born outside New Zealand, and Charles Thomas, Arthur Pakowai, Nellie (Ellen) and Frank who was born in 1877.
Elizabeth was widowed in 1878 and the family continued in Frasertown. In the book, Wairoa County Council – the first hundred years, there is reference in 1883 to approval for 'a Mrs Stacey to hold a slaughterhouse license at Frasertow'. This is likely to be Elizabeth establishing the butchery business with her sons.
Elizabeth, her daughter Nellie Torr and two of her daughters-in-law, Maria Stacey and Amelia Stacey signed Sheet 305 of the Women’s Suffrage Petition. Another daughter Mary Elizabeth Strickland signed in Napier.
On Elizabeth’s will dated 2 February 1897, her signature was a ragged version of the neat hand on the petition four years earlier. Elizabeth died the following day. Her will mentioned her daughters Mary (Bessie) Strickland and Ellen Torr and her sons Arthur and Frank. She requested that a fence be erected around the graves of 'my late husband and myself'. They were buried together and there is a headstone on their grave, but no fence survives.
Sources
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175609977/elizabeth-mary-stacey
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay & Wellington Provincial Districts]1908
The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1908, Christchurch http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc06Cycl-t1-body1-d2-d25-d9.html#name-417702-mention
Births Deaths and Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RSN-88C?cc=1865481&wc=4BD7-W69%3A1045247901%2C1045303301 : 21 February 2019), Napier Court > Probate records 1875-1938 P881-P890 > image 264 of 270; Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office.
Wairoa County Council-the first hundred years (1978) Wairoa County Council
