suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Aitken
Given names: 
M.
Given address: 
Gore
Sheet No: 103
Town/Suburb: 
Gore
City/Region: 
Southland
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

also signed as 109 M Aitken

Margaret Stewart was born on 2 June 1855 in Doune, Perthshire, Scotland – the daughter of Alexander Stewart, a farmer, and Mary Dounie.

She married Andrew Aitken on 9 November 1875 in Doune and they had three children before they sailed for Otago in 1880 on the Stirlingshire.

They settled in the Waikaka Valley where they developed a farm and where they had a further nine children.

Margaret signed the suffrage petition at, nearby, Gore.

In 1906 they retired to Timaru where Andrew died in 1919 and Margaret died at her daughter’s home on 24 March 1944 – they are buried together in the Timaru Cemetery.

Margaret’s obituary said “outside her home Mrs Aitken was interested chiefly in the Presbyterian Church”.

Sources:

BDM online NZ    https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

Family Search   https://www.familysearch.org

Otago Nominal Index   http://marvin.otago.ac.nz

Papers Past    https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/           

Find a Grave    https://www.findagrave.com/

Scotlands People   https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

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

No comments have been posted about M. Aitken

What do you know?