Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Martin was born about 1815 in Northern Ireland.
After her parents died in the late 1830s Jane emigrated to New Zealand with her siblings in 1840 on the Lady Nugent.
Jane married Alexander Duthie, also a passenger on the Lady Nugent in 1842.
In 1846 Alexander travelled to Otago with a survey party he was working for and Jane accompanied them.
The party also included two of Jane’s brothers. After a few years in Dunedin they came to the Tokomairiro district in 1852.
They had seven children, one who died in infancy, before Alexander died in 1863, when their youngest child was three-years-old.
Jane remained in Milton where she signed the suffrage petition, she died at her home 'Janefield' on 26 October 1897 and is buried with Alexander in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
Her obituary said she 'was one of the most inseparable landmarks of Tokomairiro, and even to the oldest identities she was always known as "Old Mrs Duthie".'
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions