Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Janet/ Jessie Riddell was born about 1836 in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire in Scotland – the daughter of James Riddell, a lime stone mason, and Margaret Lock.
She married John Scott, a calico printer, on 22 June 1855 in Renfrewshire.
They had six children before Jessie and the children emigrated to Otago in 1874 on the Mairi Bhan.
John appears to have arrived earlier and their last child was born in 1875.
The family settled in Dunedin and when Jessie signed the suffrage petition they were living in Melbourne St, South Dunedin.
John died in 1911 and Jessie died on 12 December 1919 – they are buried in the family grave in the Southern 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
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk