Cheeseman was born in Doncaster, England in 1852 and emigrated to New Zealand with her family, arriving in Auckland on 4 April 1854 on the Artemesia. Her father was Thomas Cheeseman, a Methodist minister who moved the family to New Zealand in the hope that the climate would cure a throat ailment he suffered from. She had four siblings: two brothers, William and Thomas, and two sisters, Emma and Ellen.[1]
Cheeseman's brother Thomas became curator of the Auckland Museum and she, Emma and Ellen accompanied him on field trips.[1]
Cheeseman wrote magazine articles, one of which was published in the Australian Ladies' Annual 1878 and a novel, The Rolling Stone, which was published in 1886.[2][3][4]
