Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Martha Bell was born in 1865 in New Zealand – the daughter of John Bell, a farmer, and Margaret Cochrane.
Martha’s father died in 1887 and her mother died in 1891 – when she signed the suffrage petition she was living, probably on the family farm, at Woodside, West Taieri.
In 1894 the 19th anniversary of Welcome All Lodge I.O.G.T. (a temperance lodge) was celebrated at Woodside with a soiree held in the schoolhouse.
'In the course of the evening also a presentation of an illuminated I.O.G.T certificate of membership was made to' Martha 'on the occasion of her leaving the district and as a token of the esteem in which she is held by the lodge.'
Martha married shop assistant Percy James Bell Johnson, a widower with one daughter on June 9th1908 in Hamilton.
She died on 12 July 1938 at Point Chevalier, Auckland and is buried in the Waikumete Cemetery.
Percy died in 1962 – he is buried in the Mangere Lawn Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
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