Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Charlotte Martha Eastwood was born in 1864 in New Zealand, the daughter of Jesse Eastwood, a gold miner, and Annie Hall (nee Last). (See Mrs Eastwood).
While Charlotte’s father worked as a miner in Central Otago, he left Charlotte and her mother in Dunedin.
In 1871, her mother was arrested by the Port Chalmers police and sent to the lunatic asylum. Charlotte was sent to the Industrial School for one year being a 'neglected child'.
In 1872, Charlotte’s stay was extended for a further five years. At this time, Jesse was mining at Bendigo, Central Otago. He went to New South Wales in about 1880 where he died from self-inflicted wounds in 1890.
On 9 March 1892, Charlotte married Charles John Peterson, a 38-year-old mariner, at Knox Church, Dunedin. They had no children. When she signed the suffrage petition, Charlotte was living in Cumberland St, Dunedin.
In the 1900s, possibly after her mother’s death in 1903, Charlotte and Charles moved to Picton where Charlotte died on 6 January 1914.
She is buried in the Picton Cemetery. Charles died in 1926, his place of burial is unknown.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au/
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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Marlborough District Council https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/cemeteries
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