Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Kate/Catherine Alexandra Pearston was born on 14 June 1863 in Glasgow, Scotland – the daughter of William Pearston, a Grocer, and Jessie McDonald. William died in 1876 and, in 1878, her mother married John Cooper Shearer, a storekeeper. The family emigrated to Otago on the Otago in 1879 and lived in Drummond in Southland. Kate's sister Mary also signed sheet 153 of the suffrage petition.
Kate married John Leitch Hamilton, a builder, in 1897; they had four children. The family lived in Dunedin.
John died in 1927 and Kate died on 6 October 1936 and they are buried together in the Northern 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
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk