Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Cecilia Neilson was born on 4 November 1859 in Dalziel, Lanarkshire, Scotland – the daughter of Thomas Neilson, a railway pointsman, and Susan Ferguson.
She emigrated to Otago in 1883 on the Nelson and she settled in Dunedin.
Cecilia married Allan Forrest Anderson, an engineer, on 4 May 1885 in South Dunedin and they had three children.
When Cecilia signed the suffrage petition she was living in Macandrew Rd, South Dunedin.
Around this time her two-year-old daughter Maggie drowned in a ditch when she wandered away from home.
The following year Cecilia was in court claiming four weeks maintenance from Allan, he was also charged with using insulting language.
Allan died at Seacliff in 1896, he is buried in the Southern Cemetery with their daughter.
Where Cecilia went after this is unclear.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz