Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Mercy King was born in 1867 in Kent, England – the daughter of Edward King, a highway labourer, and Harriet Read.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1874 on the William Davie and they settled in Southland.
Mercy married Mark Harris in 1887 and they had nine children.
When Mercy signed the suffrage petition the family were living at Paradise Flat near Glenorchy and Mark was a farmer and contractor.
Mark died at their home in 1929 and Mercy died in Dunedin on 14 September 1943, they are buried together in the Glenorchy Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.govt.nz/
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