Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Lyon was born on 12 January 1863 in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Scotland – the daughter of David Lyon, a labourer, and Jane Struthers.
She emigrated to Otago in 1883 on the Caroline and, on 16 February the following year, she married James Wilkie McWatt, a wharf labourer.
They had nine children and when Jane signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Andersons Bay Rd, Dunedin.
In the 1900s the family moved to Invercargill where James worked as a second hand dealer.
He died there in 1932 and is buried in the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery.
Jane moved back to Dunedin - she died on 25 November 1940 and is buried in the Andersons Bay Cemetery with her son.
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/
Invercargill City Council https://icc.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.
Community contributions