Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Janet Rankin was born on 27 January 1869 in Lanarkshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Rankin, a saddler, and Mary McClymont.
She came to New Zealand with her family as an infant and they settled in Oamaru before moving to Maheno a few years later.
She married John Frater Kydd, a blacksmith, on 1 June 1887 in the Otepopo parish.
They had seven children and when Janet signed the suffrage petition they were living in Ngapara.
In later life they moved to Dunedin where John died in 1941 and Janet died at her daughter’s home on 17 August 1946.
They are buried together in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
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/
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