Biography and image contributed by Miriam Hannafin
Margaret McKay was born in 1855 in Glen Urquhart, Inverness-shire, Scotland. Her father, Donald, died when she was 3 years old, and she then lived with her sister, Christina and her mother Mary at her grandparent’s home in Glen Urquhart.
In 1869, when Margaret was 14, she emigrated to New Zealand with her mother and sister, following her uncles and aunt who had emigrated earlier.
Margaret married Henry Vernon in 1874 in Dunedin and had 2 sons to him. Sadly, Henry, a policeman, died in a rail accident six months before her youngest son was born in 1876.
Margaret then married John Darroch in 1881, and moved to live in Milton, Clutha, Otago where she remained for the rest of her life.
She worked as a midwife in Milton, as well as raising the further seven children she had with John Darroch. Five of these children had died before Margaret herself died in March 1920.
One of her remaining sons, Duncan Darroch (1888-1967), became a well known New Zealand painter of mountains and marine ships.
Family photo taken about 1880 (estimated) showing Margaret, her eldest sons: James and Henry Vernon.
Sources
1861 Scotland Census Parish: Urquhart; ED: 7; Page: 8; Line: 23; Roll: CSSCT1861_14
New Zealand, Death Index 1848-1980
New Zealand, Marriage index 1840-1950