Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Jessie McCrae was born about 1845 in Lochbroom, Ross and Cromarty, Scotland.
She married Donald McLean in Rosskeen in 1872, and shortly after they emigrated to New Zealand.
They had three children, the youngest died in infancy in May 1879. One year later Donald died at Waikouaiti. He is buried with their son in the Waikouaiti Cemetery.
Jessie remarried on August 17th 1882 in the Palmerston parish to Joseph Bates, a bootmaker and widower with four children.
They had a daughter in 1884, and when Jessie signed the suffrage petition they were living in Waikouaiti.
Joseph died in 1907. He is buried with his first wife in the St John’s Anglican Cemetery, Waikouaiti.
About 1919 Jessie went to live with her daughter in Masterton. She died there on December 19th 1920 and is buried in the Archer Street Cemetery.
Her obituary said she “was held in high respect, being one of the sturdy settlers of the pioneering days.”
”She was well-known in connection with her activities regarding the Presbyterian Church, of which she was a staunch supporter”.