suffrage_petition
Surname: 
McGrouther
Given names: 
Catherine
Given address: 
Milton
Sheet No: 118
Town/Suburb: 
Milton
City/Region: 
Otago
Notes: 

Originally transcribed as Catharine McGiarellie

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Catherine McNaughton Stuart was born about 1823 in Weem, Perthshire, Scotland – the daughter of Alexander Stuart, a mason, and Janet McNaughton.

She married James McGrouther, a widower with six children in the early 1850s and they had a further two children before the family emigrated to Otago on the Strathfieldsaye in 1858.

They had two more children after their arrival, both were either stillborn or died in infancy.

'Arriving in Dunedin, a whare was erected in Maclaggan street, and here the family stayed for some time, Mr McGrouther getting labouring work wherever he got a chance. After three years the family shifted to Tokomairiro, where the present holding was taken up.'

Catherine signed the suffrage petition in Milton.

James died at their home 'Galalaud' in 1901 - in 1908 Catherine was the subject of a newspaper article which said 'the old lady, though she has lived a strenuous life, is still hale except for a weakness in the legs, and her experiences are such as show a record of hard work all her life.'

She died on 22 October 1914 at her daughter’s home at Helensbrook, Milton, she is buried with James in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.

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

Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

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