Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Helen Martin Millar was born on 16 January 1850 in Renfrewshire, Scotland – the daughter of William Millar, a labourer at a soap works and Jane Sowden.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1858 on the Three Bells and they settled in Dunedin.
Helen married Thomas Scurr, a blacksmith and coachbuilder, in 1872.
They had 10 children, three of who died in infancy. One son served briefly as Mayor of St Kilda Borough before he died at an early age, apparently of influenza.
Helen died on 13 June 1921 and Thomas died in 1930. They are buried in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/do-it-online/search/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/en/newzealand/
Otago Nominal Index https://www.otago.ac.nz/library/hocken/oni/
PapersPast https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz