Maker: Jan Morgan

Panel number: 269

Petition sheet number: 323

Person honouring: Mary Edith Aberhart

Relationship to makers: Unknown

Mary Edith Aberhart was born in Grove Town, near Blenheim, in January 1872. She was the third of 13 children born to Harriet Eyles and John Henry Aberhart.

In 1893 she signed the women’s suffrage petition at the time she worked as a servant in Wellington. This was just a few months after turning 21 (the minimum signing age). She was one of 192 women from the Blenheim area who signed the petition, but the only member of her family to do so – neither her mother, nor her older sister signed.

In 1897 Mary married Robert Teague, a plasterer, and had four children of her own – two daughters [one died aged five] and two sons. They lived in Feilding.

Mary died in 1949, aged 76 years. Both she and Robert were buried at Feilding cemetery.

Panel materials: Unknown