Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Isabella Sim was born on 15 December 1841 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland – the daughter of James Sim, the foreman in a spinning mill, and Jane Samson.
Her mother died when she was about four years old and her father re-married soon after.
In 1858 Isabella, with her family, which included secen children, emigrated to Otago on the Strathfieldsaye.
She married John Winton, a commission agent, in 1861 and they had 10 children as well as 2 adopted daughters.
The family lived, at first, in Portobello on the Otago Peninsula then beside the Port Chalmers to Dunedin railway line.
John was declared bankrupt in 1872 and some-time after the family moved to Rothesay where John ran a fish curing business & where Isabella signed the suffrage petition.
In 1898 the family opened the Edinburgh A1 Dining Rooms & Temperance Hotel in the Octagon in Dunedin.
By 1911 they were living in Leith St, Dunedin where they celebrated their Golden Wedding.
A 'pleasant gathering took place in honour of the occasion' at the Otago Early Settlers Hall.
John died in 1913 and Isabella died at her home in Leith St on 1 August 1919.
They are buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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