Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella/Belle Gilfillan was born about 1847 in Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland – the daughter of Alexander Gilfillan and Grace Bonar.
She emigrated to New Zealand in 1864 on the Sevilla and she married Hugh Jones, a gold miner, in 1866.
They lived at Cardrona where Isabella signed the suffrage petition and they had 13 children, one who died in infancy.
In the late 1890s they retired to Queenstown where Hugh died in 1912, he is buried in the Queenstown Cemetery.
Isabella died at her daughter’s home in Invercargill in January 1930, she is buried in the Invercargill Eastern 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
Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.govt.nz/
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions