Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Erskine was born about 1830 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland – the daughter of George Erskine, a cotton hand loom weaver, and Janet Fisher.
She married John France, a woollen spinner, in 1852 and they emigrated to Victoria, Australia in 1853 on the Signet.
The climate did not agree with Margaret and she returned to Scotland while John remained behind to 'settle up his business affairs.'
He then visited New Zealand before returning to Victoria then joining Margaret in Scotland.
Their son Robert was born in 1855 and the family emigrated again in 1857, this time to Otago on the George Canning.
They settled at 'Brucefield Farm' at Tokomairiro where they had a further eight children, one who died in infancy.
John died at their home in 1889 and when Margaret signed the suffrage petition she was living at Brucefield.
She died there on 11 January 1907 and is buried with John in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
Her obituary said she 'was held in the highest esteem by all who had the honor of her acquaintance, and her many acts of charity were performed in an unostentatious manner.'
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
Public Record Office Victoria https://prov.vic.gov.au