Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Davina Gray Duff was born on 31 August 1840 in Lanarkshire, Scotland – the daughter of Robert Duff and Jean Barrie.
Both her parents died when she was an infant and Davina grew up with the Gray family and her Uncle, John Barrie’s, family in Lanarkshire.
Davina and her sister Catherine (See 104 Kate Stewart) emigrated to Otago in 1862 on the Sevilla to join their married sister (See 104 Margaret Johnstone) who was farming near Milton.
The two sisters started a dressmaking business. Davina married David Paton on 4 July 1864 at Milton – they had no children.
Davina was a keen supporter of the Tokomairiro Agricultural Show winning prizes for her cheese and butter production.
She signed the suffrage petition in Milton and she died at her home on 16 June 1919.
David died at Seacliff in 1922, they are buried in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/