Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Janet Jeffrey MacDonald/McDonald was born in 1867 in Bluff – the daughter of Captain John MacDonald and Mary Ann Menogue. (See 341 Mary Ann Macdonald)
From the mid 1870s Jeanie’s family lived on top of Motupōhue, also known as Bluff Hill.
Her father worked as a signalman for the port and, as there was no road up the hill, all supplies had to be carried on their backs.
Jeanie signed the suffrage petition in Bluff – after her parents’ deaths she moved to Hawera where her sister was living.
She died there on 28 December 1951 and is buried in the Hawera General Episcopalian Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
South Taranaki District Council https://public.stdc.govt.nz/cemeteries
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