Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Matheson was born in 1864 in Dunedin – the daughter of David Matheson, a farm labourer, and Jane Anderson.
In 1877 her family moved to live at Knapdale in Southland.
She married Robert Erskine France, a farmer, in 1882, and they had seven children.
They farmed at Knapdale, then at Benio, in the Waikaka Valley.
Jane signed the suffrage petition at Gore.
Robert died in 1913 after which Jane retired to live in Gore.
She died on 4 November 1938 and is buried with Robert in the Gore Cemetery.
Her obituary said “during the war she was an active member of the Red Cross Society and she mad many garments for the men at the front. She was a supporter of the Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union.”
Sources:
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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/