Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Catherine/Katie Blackie was born on 23 February 1872 in Lanarkshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Blackie, a coal miner, and Margaret Smith.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in the late 1880s and they settled, at first, at Green Island before moving to Brunnerton on the West Coast a few years later.
Her father died in 1885 and the family moved back to Otago.
When Katie signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family in Mosgiel working as a weaver.
She married William John Henry Halsey in 1896 and they had 10 children, one who died in infancy.
The family lived in Fairfield, near Dunedin, where William died in 1923.
Katie died on 13 December 1933 she is buried with William in the Green Island 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