Certificates - Mary Cammilleri Wood

Mary was born in Saint Pancras, London, the daughter of Frederick Ponsonby Cammilleri (b. 1839 England – d. 1899 England) and Georgina Riddell Reginalda Forgan (b. 1845 Canada – 1910 England). Frederick served in the Navy during the Crimean War.
In 1887, at the age of 24, Mary immigrated to New York. Soon after arriving she registered in a two-year course at the newly opened St Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses. It was a practical course with instruction taking place mostly in hospital wards and students graded on their performance. With the first intake including only six students, it was most likely that Mary was one of those as she was awarded her graduating diploma and pin in July 1890.
In 1903 Mary married Dr Charles Sacramento Wood (b. 1864 Connecticut, USA – d. 1916 New York, USA), a general practice physician who had followed in his father's footsteps to study medicine. Charles Snr was a Surgeon in the US Army during the Civil War.
Census records show that in 1910 Mary was living in Manhattan, New York with husband Charles Wood and her widowed mother. Sadly, Georgina Cammilleri passed away in England later that year.
Mary decided to further her studies, and in April 1916 she graduated from the University of the State of New York as a Registered Nurse. Unfortunately, tragedy struck again when a month after her graduation her husband passed away.
Mary continued to live in Manhattan until her death in 1942. Charles and Mary are buried together in West Cemetery, Litchfield, Connecticut, USA. They had no children.
Mary's brother Frederick William Ponsonby Cammilleri came to Western Australia and was an early pioneer of the Kimberley and Coolgardie goldfields before marrying Kate Bayliss Layman in 1895. He was a Councillor and Mayor on the Busselton Municipal Council for many years. Both Frederick and Kate are buried in Busselton Cemetery.