Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Barbara Johnston was born c 1837 in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, daughter of Robert Johnston a bookseller and Ann Dawson.
Barbara’s parents had both died by her mid 20’s and in about 1869 she arrived in New Zealand where her sister was living. She married George Alexander Smyth, a saddler, at her sister’s house in Maitland St, Dunedin on 18 March 1869. George and Barbara had 4 children, 3 of whom predeceased her.
Barbara’s husband died in 1901 and Barbara in 1918. They are both buried in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Sources
Family Search www.familysearch.org
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz
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