Originally transcribed as Jane Ann Shepherd
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Ann Grant was born about 1861 in Scotland – the daughter of John Grant and Janet Grant.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1871 on the Agnes Muir and she married William James Stephens, an engine driver, on 6 June 1879 in Dunedin.
They had six children before William died in 1892.
When Jane signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Thomas St, South Dunedin.
In 1896 Jane’s youngest son, William, was admitted to the Caversham Industrial School as Jane 'was a widow, and was in very poor circumstances....This boy had given his mother some trouble through him not going to school'.
Jane died at her home on 9 November 1906 – she is buried with William in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz