Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Catherine Owens was born about 1844 in Ireland.
She came to Scotland where she married tailor Hugh McConnell on 9 September 1864 in Renfrewshire.
They had five children, one who died in infancy, before the family emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the “Mairi Bhan”.
Their two year old daughter Mary Jane died on the voyage & was buried at sea.
The family settled in Dunedin where their next two children were born.
Hugh was declared bankrupt in 1877 and he died in 1881.
Catherine re-married in 1884 to gardener Thomas Ryan. They had two sons – in August 1887 Joseph, their youngest son, won “First Prize (gold watch and chain) at Baby Show, Dunedin”.
The following year their home, a three roomed wooden cottage, was destroyed by fire due to some clothes left hanging to dry. The house & contents were insured.
When Catherine signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Stuart St, Kaikorai.
Thomas died in 1905 and Catherine died at her home on 3 June 1933 – she is buried with her two husbands in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
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
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk