Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella Thomson Beath was born on 13 March 1855 in Portmoak, Kinross, Scotland – the daughter of Andrew Beath, a hand loom weaver, and Jean Crombie. (See 94 Jane Beath)
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1875 on the Oamaru and they settled in Dunedin.
Isabella married John Churchwood Beath, an engine driver, on 8 September 1882 and they had three sons.
When their youngest son was just 16 months old, in 1891, John lost his job and became depressed. He committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor.
The findings of the inquest were that John was 'temporarily insane'.
When Isabella signed the suffrage petition she was living at Hawthorndale, Mornington working as a weaver.
She did not marry again and she died on 2 September 1937.
There is no mention of her in the cemetery records but a plaque on the family grave in the Northern Cemetery suggests that she is buried there with John.
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