Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Agnes Forsyth was born in 1853 in Chester, Cheshire, England – the daughter of John Forsyth, a draper and tea dealer, and Mary Hunter.
She emigrated to New Zealand about 1870 with her family and they settled in Oamaru.
After a few years in Oamaru Agnes’ father bought land at False Islet near Owaka.
She married John Craig, superintendent-engineer for the Dunedin City and Suburban Tramways, on 4 August 1880 in Dunedin.
They had three children, one who died in infancy.
When Agnes signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Owaka where John ran a store.
Their youngest son died in Owaka in 1907, aged 23 – sometime after this they moved back to Dunedin where Agnes died on 23 July 1924.
John died the following year, they are buried with two of their children in the Andersons Bay 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
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions