suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Gillies
Given names: 
J.
Given address: 
18 George Street
Sheet No: 54
Town/Suburb: 
Central Dunedin
City/Region: 
Dunedin
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

This entry is either for John Gillies, cabinetmaker whose furniture warehouse was situated at 18 George St in the 1890s or for John’s daughter Jane/Jeanie who was possibly working for her father. The family home was in Roslyn so whoever signed the petition did so at the family furniture factory.

John Gillies was born about 1836 in Scotland, he arrived in New Zealand in the 1860s married Isabella McLean in 1863.

They had four children and lived in Roslyn.

In 1865 John started his furniture manufacturing business which continued until 1926.

John was active in the First Church congregation and one of the founders of the Dunedin Burns Club.

John’s wife died in 1917 and he died on 7 January 1935 at the age of 98.

John and Isabella’s daughter Jeanie was born in 1869 in Dunedin.

The 1896 electoral roll listed her sister Isabella as working as an upholsterer so Jeanie may also have worked for the family business.

She did not marry and, after her parent’s deaths, she and her sister Isabella lived in the family home in Roslyn.

She died on 18 March 1943 and is buried with her parents in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.

Jeanie’s sister Mary also signed the petition (See 156 Mrs R D Smith)

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

Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

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