Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Also signed as 112 Isabella McAllister
Isabella Watson Martin was born in 1841 in Greenock, Scotland – the daughter of James Martin and Christina Sinclair.
She married farm labourer Campbell McAllister in 1866 and they had four children, one who died in infancy.
The family emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the “City of Dunedin” where their next three children were born and where their son died in 1876.
In 1880 Campbell died – he is buried in the Northern Cemetery.
When Isabella signed the suffrage petition she was living in May Bank, North East Valley.
She later lived in Mataura and Stratford where she died on 10 September 1940, aged 99.
Isabella is buried in the Kopuatama Cemetery, Stratford.
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
The 1893 electoral roll confirms Isabella Watson Maybank NE Valley