Biography contrtibuted by Katherine Blakeley
Catherine Kirkton was born on 16 August 1831 in Ordiquhill, Banffshire, Scotland – the daughter of Alexander Kirkton, a farmer, and Isobel Sharp.
She married James Cumming, a farmer, on 21 May 1854 in Ordiquhill and they had three children.
The family emigrated to New Zealand in the 1860s and had a farm near Riverton in Southland which they sold in 1883.
James died in 1887 and is buried in the Riverton Cemetery.
When Catherine signed the suffrage petition she was living in nearby Orepuki, she died on 29 August 1894 and is buried with James at Riverton.
Sources
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Southland District Council https://www.southlanddc.govt.nz/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/