Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Helen/Ellen Craig Nelson was born on 21 April 1860 in Aberdeen, Scotland – the daughter of John Nelson, a comb maker, and Jane Dow.
She married Alexander Michael, an engraver, in 1881 and they had two sons before they emigrated to New Zealand about 1888.
They had a further three children and they settled in Dunedin where Ellen signed the suffrage petition in Clyde Avenue, off St David Street.
Sometime after 1911 Ellen and Alexander separated – he committed suicide in 1917. He “lived in a hut in Tennyson street, apart from his wife” – he is buried in the Andersons Bay Cemetery. Ellen remained in Dunedin – she died at Ross Home on 23 August 1943. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered.
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