Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Agnes Rait Sime Brodie was born on 5 May 1856 in Glasgow, Scotland – the daughter of Daniel Laird Brodie, a bookkeeper, and Agnes Rait Sime.
Her mother died in Illinois in 1858 while on a trip to America.
Her father re-married and Agnes was brought up by her father’s parents in Glasgow.
She emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the “Nelson” and married John Randle, a painter, on 11 April 1879 in Dunedin.
They had five children, one who died in infancy, and when Agnes signed the suffrage petition they were living in Tweed St, Kaikorai.
Agnes died soon after on 8 August 1893, aged 37 “after a long and painful illness”.
John re-married in 1895 and had a further two sons – he died in 1904 and is buried with Agnes 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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk