Also signed as 101 Mrs Euphemia Shiels
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Euphemia Taylor was born about 1824 in Scotland — the daughter of William Taylor.
She married James Shiels, a railway pointsman, on 23 September 1853 in Edinburgh.
They had two children before they boarded the Jura in 1858 and emigrated to Otago.
Another three children were born in New Zealand.
The family spent about five years living in Dunedin before they settled in Port Molyneux in South Otago and took up farming, staying on the same farm, Dean Park, all their lives.
Euphemia signed the suffrage petition twice, she and James celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1903.
Euphemia died in December 1909, her obituary said 'she was a fine type of early settler, and esteemed by all who knew her.'
James died in 1913, they are buried together in the Romahapa Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz