Biography contributed by Susan Bedingfield and Heather Thompson
Isabella Morrison was born in Glenelg, Scotland in approximately 1854. She was the daughter of Donald Morrison and Mary McLeod who were also born in Glenelg.
At that time Glenelg had a population of around 650 people. However, in large part due to the Highland clearances, life was very difficult.
Isabella was the 7th of 10 children. Her father was the local miller for several decades until his death in 1884. Isabella, like most in her family, spoke both Gaelic and English.
By 1884 Isabella’s sister Ann (see 158 Annie French) had migrated to New Zealand with her husband, Robert French, and it was possibly at Ann’s suggestion that Isabella also decided to migrate to New Zealand to marry William McLeod in 1889.
William was also from Glenelg and, although about 10 years older, was probably known to Ann and Isabella. Isabella arrived at Petone on the steam ship Ruapehu in May 1889. She was met by William, and they married in Knox Church, Dunedin, on 26th July 1889.
Their first and only child, Roderick, was born in May 1890 in Otane (then called Kaikora).
William was working at Milbourne Station as a shepherd and tragically died in an accident when he was thrown by a horse in July 1891 and Isabella was left to support and raise a very young child.
For several years she did this partly by performing household duties on farms in the Tuapeka region of Otago.
In 1893 both Isabella McLeod and her sister Annie French signed the suffrage petition, and both gave their addresses as Russell Street, Dunedin Central.
In 1907 Isabella remarried William Morrison. William was from Shieldag, Ross-shire and worked for many years on the tugboats at Port Chalmers.
From then on Isabella appears to have lived with William and Roderick in Dunedin. In her later years she ran a dairy in Arthur St., Dunedin.
Isabella died in Dunedin in 1942 and is buried at Andersons Bay.
Images
Isabella McLeod and her second husband William Morrison. (Date unknown)
Isabella McLeod and her son Roderick McLeod (Date unknown)
Marriage certificate of Isabella McLeod (widow) and William Morrison (seaman) from 26 December 1907.