Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Helen Graham was born on 14 November 1826 in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland – the daughter of Archibald Graham, a seaman, and Helen Boyd.
She married William Graham on 16 January 1848 at Falkirk and they had two daughters.
Willliam died in the late 1850s and Helen re-married on 4 September 1861 to John Aitken, a seaman.
They had two children and John appears to have died in the late 1860s.
In 1874 Helen, with three of her children, emigrated to Otago on the Invercargill, the family settled in Dunedin.
When Helen signed the suffrage petition they were living in Clyde St.
Helen died there on 8 December 1905, she is buried in the family grave in the Northern 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