Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Lavinia Maud Wackeldine was born in 1870 in Victoria, Australia – the daughter of Conrad Wackeldine, a musician from Hanover, Germany, and Jane Meredith.
Her father died in 1877 and sometime after this she sailed for Otago with her mother and siblings.
When Lavinia signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family in Castle St, Dunedin working as a tailoress.
She married Douglas Morton MacKenzie, a police officer, on 25 November 1898 and they had four children, two who died in early childhood.
Lavinia died on 7 November 1938 – she is buried in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Douglas died in 1953 – he was cremated and his ashes were scattered.
Sources :
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
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.
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