Biography contibuted by Katherine Blakeley
Helen MacFarlane was born on 24 October 1859 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland – the daughter of Andrew MacFarlane, a plumber, and Helen Sutherland.
She married James Alexander Hay in 1880 and they emigrated to Otago sometime after where Helen’s family had also settled.
Helen and James had two children in New Zealand and when Helen signed the suffrage petition they were living in St David St, Dunedin.
James died in 1896 and Helen remarried the following year to David Petrie Duncan, a widower with three children.
David died in Dunedin in 1926 – he is buried with James Hay in the Northern Cemetery.
Helen died on 13 July 1942 in Christchurch – she is buried in the Bromley 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
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
Christchurch City Council http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com