Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Helen McDonald was born about 1850 in Scotland.
She married Francis Honeyman Stark on 23 April 1874 in Fife and later that year they emigrated to Otago on the Mairi Bhan.
They had seven children, one who died in infancy, and from as early as 1879 they lived at the newly built Cargill’s Castle then known as 'The Cliffs' at St Clair, Dunedin where Francis worked as a gardener for Edward Bowes Cargill.
From about 1890 Frank worked as the caretaker of the St Clair salt water baths and the family lived in a cottage nearby where Helen signed the suffrage petition.
Francis died in 1915 at their home in Queen Alexandra St, St Clair and Helen died on 7 February 1917 at Park Hill, Heriot in South Otago.
They are buried together in the Andersons Bay Cemtery.
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