Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella Matthews was born about 1848 in Ireland – the daughter of George Matthews, a gardener, and Elizabeth Presley. (See 108 Eliza Matthews)
Her family emigrated to Otago in 1850 on the Lady Nugent and settled in Dunedin where her father developed a plant nursery in Moray Place.
The family built a new house in the 1870s at 'Hawthorn Hill' in Mornington.
When Isabella signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family in Hawthorne Avenue, Mornington.
She died at her home on 12 April 1905 and is buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz