Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jessie/Jane Henderson was born in 1860 in Victoria, Australia – the daughter of Walter Henderson and Janet Kinross.
As a young child she came to New Zealand with her family - they settled in Invercargill for a few years before moving to Bluff.
Jessie married William Reynolds Falconer Fraser, a bank agent, on 27 April 1882 at her parents’ home – they had four children.
When Jessie signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Bluff.
They later moved to Wyndham then to Mosgiel near Dunedin where Jessie died on 28 November 1912.
Her obituary said that in the Wyndam district she 'was widely known and highly esteemed.'
William died in Dunedin in 1936, 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
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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