Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Helen Borthwick was born on 30 August 1825 in Tweedsmuir, Peebleshire, Scotland – the daughter of Adam Borthwick and Isabel Kerr. She emigrated to South Australia in 1839 on the Duchess of Northumberland with her parents and four siblings.
Helen married Peter McNeil, a shepherd, on 9 December 1842 in Adelaide. They had at least eight children. In 1867 they were living at Bundaleer Springs, South Australia, when Peter was killed while helping to put out a large bush fire.
Helen’s parents had gone to New Zealand - they had a large farm at Warepa in South Otago, and Helen appears to have gone to join them. Her father died in 1886 and her mother died at Russell St, Dunedin, in 1889. It is in Russell St that Helen was living when she signed the suffrage petition, living there with her daughter Ellen.
Helen died on 27 April 1905. She is buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
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
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au
Family History SA http://www.familyhistorysa.org