Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Nesbitt was born on 19 December 1864 in County Down, Ireland – the daughter of William Nesbitt and Jane McKeown.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1875 on the “Aldergrove” and they settled in North Otago.
Jane married Edward Shadwell, a widower with one son, and a railway surfaceman, on 25 April 1888 in Oamaru.
They had six children and when Jane signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Georgetown in North Otago.
Jane’s stepson Edward and her son William both died in 1918 fighting during the First World War.
In later life they moved to Oamaru where Edward died in 1935.
Jane died on 5 August 1941 in Pukeuri, they are buried together in the Old Oamaru Cemetery.
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/
Waitaki District Council https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/Services/Cemeteries
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/