Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Emily Cassidy was born about 1850 in Donegal, Ireland – the daughter of Frederick Cassidy, a clergyman, and Martha Brown.
She came to New Zealand in the late 1860s and she married Allan Cameron Campbell, a tailor, on 4 June 1874 in Balclutha.
They had nine children and the family lived in Balclutha and Kaitangata before moving to Pounawea, near Owaka, where Emily signed the suffrage petition and they ran a boarding house called Point House.
Allan died at Pounawea, near Owaka, in 1904 – after Allan’s death Emily continued to run the boarding house offering 'good bathing, boating and fishing', for a few more years.
She died at her home on 23 September 1912 and is buried with Allan in the Owaka Cemetery.
Her obituary said - 'Kindly and gentle, she was beloved by all who knew her'.
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/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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