Jane Dabinett

Surname:

Dabinett

Given names:

Jane

Given address:

Owaka

Sheet No: 136

Town/Suburb:

Owaka

City/Region:

Otago

Notes:

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Jane/Jeanie Nisbet Young was born in 1850 in Dunedin – the daughter of William Young, a carpenter, and Jenny Smith Wilkie.

When she was about five-years-old her family moved to Warepa in South Otago.

She married George Dabinett, a farmer, on 30 October 1873 in the Warepa Parish Church. Shortly after their marriage the young couple moved to the Catlins district where they opened a general store at Owaka.

They had no children but, about 1886, they adopted three young girls whose mother had died shortly after childbirth - (the daughters of William Green and Sarah Priscilla Butcher).

Jane signed the suffrage petition in Owaka – two of her sisters also signed the petition in Owaka (See 136 Elizabeth Abernethy and 136 Margaret Todd).

In about 1898 they shifted to the Fairlie district where they had bought a farm which they worked until 1916 when they retired to Milton.

'In their retirement they were greatly esteemed by all sections of the community owing to their kindly, generous disposition.'

Jane died in Milton on 29 October 1938, the day before a celebration that had been planned for their 65th wedding anniversary to which 85 guests had been invited.

George died in 1947, at the age of 100, he is buried with Jane in the Owaka Cemetery.