Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Steele was born about 1851 in Carnwath, Lanarkshire, Scotland – the daughter of Henry Steele and Catherine Bryce.
She married Hugh Montgomery, a quarryman from Ireland, on 12 August 1870 in Carnwath.
They had five children before they emigrated to Otago in 1880 on the Canterbury.
The family settled in Port Chalmers and had a further five children, one who died in infancy.
When Margaret signed the suffrage petition they were living in George St, Port Chalmers.
Hugh died at their home in 1911 and Margaret died at her daughter’s home on 24 June 1935 – she is buried with Hugh in the family grave in the Port Chalmers 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