Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Helen Wilson was born about 1845 in Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Wilson, a labourer, and Charlotte Cochrane.
She emigrated to Otago in the mid 1860s on the Peter Denny, possibly with her sister Elizabeth (See 80 Elisabeth McMurtrie)
Helen worked as a domestic servant for a short time before she married Thomas McMurtrie on 22 February 1866 in Milton.
They had 10 children, two who died in infancy and lived in Milton where Helen signed the suffrage petition.
Thomas died at their home in 1928 and Helen died on 20 July 1932, they are buried in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/