Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella Wood was born about 1854 in Scotland – the daughter of Alexander Wood, a watchmaker, and Elizabeth French.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1860 on the Gala and they settled in Dunedin.
Isabella married Peter McLaren, a storeman, on 26 October 1886 in Dunedin and they had one son.
When Isabella signed the suffrage petition they were living in Puerua in South Otago.
They later moved to Owaka where Isabella died on 20 July 1920, she is buried in the Wood family grave in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin.
Peter died in Dunedin in 1926, he is buried in the McLaren family grave in the Green Island 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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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