Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Shearer was born in 1848 in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire – the daughter of George Shearer and May Finty.
Her parents do not appear to have married as her mother married Alexander Black in 1850.
Jane and her family sailed for Otago in 1861 on the “Storm Cloud”. They lived at first at Waihola then they moved to Milton where Jane married John Carnegie Gordon, a commission agent, on 5 April 1867 in the Tokomairiro manse.
They had seven children and lived, at first at, Akatore before moving to Milton.
John died in 1886 leaving Jane with a young family, Jane remained in Milton where she signed the suffrage petition.
She died at her home on 5 September 1914 and is buried with John in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/