A. Graham

Surname:

Graham

Given names:

Given address:

Shag Point

Sheet No: 89

Town/Suburb:

Shag Point

City/Region:

Otago

Notes:

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Agnes Grant was born about 1854, probably in Scotland – the daughter of John Grant, a farmer, and Margaret McIntosh.

She came to Otago with her parents in the early 1860s and they settled in Dunedin.

Agnes married David Graham, a butcher, on 24 June 1885 at Mornington, Dunedin.

They lived at Shag Point, north of Dunedin where Agnes signed the suffrage petition and they had nine children.

In 1887, just before the birth of their second child their house and butcher’s shop burnt down. David had harnessed the horse to 'go for the midwife' when Agnes dropped the lamp when it flared up – she was 'badly burned'. David dragged her out of the house and then rescued their son who was asleep in bed.

Nothing was saved from the house which was rented – their furniture was insured.

David was declared bankrupt in 1891 and, by 1900, the family was living at Puketeraki, south of Karitane.

David died there in 1905, he is buried in the Waikouaiti Cemetery.

Agnes and the children moved to Dunedin in 1908 – she died at her son’s home at Caversham on 23 May 1938 and is buried in the Grant family grave in the Southern Cemetery.