Biography contributed by Clare Cramond
Mary Simpson McIntyre was born in Victoria, Australia and came to New Zealand in the late 1860s. She married Hugh McLellan in 1870.
Their son, Hugh Napier was born in New Zealand in 1872, their daughter Marion Elizabeth in Victoria, Australia in 1874, and then back in New Zealand John Miller was born in 1877, Douglas Donald in 1878 and Grace Young in 1881. They were living in Hawkes Bay where Hugh was farming.
In 1879, Hugh sold his extensive holdings at Te Haroto and in 1881 he was declared bankrupt. Their son James Haigh was born in 1883, but died aged four, Isabella Pansey was born in 1884, Alister Norman in 1885, James Young in 1888 and Robert Gordon in 1894. Another baby died at birth. Around this time, when the Petition was signed, the family were living at Frasertown where Hugh was working.
Mary Simpson McLellan was on the 1893 Electoral Roll along with her husband and eldest son, Hugh Napier. They later shifted to Taranaki where Hugh senior died in 1911.
Mary’s son Douglas Donald enlisted during the Great War but died from influenza while stationed at the training camp in Featherston. Two of her daughters did not marry and it was likely she was visiting or living with Marion in Auckland when she died in 1923. Marion applied to administer Mary’s estate as she did not leave a will and these documents gave details of Mary and Hugh’s surviving eight children. Mary Simpson McLellan was buried in Opunake with her husband.
Sources
Births Deaths and Marriages Online https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18790801.2.28.2 New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5722, 1 August 1879, Page 4
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DTN18810316.2.16.1 Daily Telegraph, Issue 3033, 16 March 1881, Page 3
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146999086/hugh-mclellan
DD McLellan https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/C33195
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146999137/mary-simpson-mclellan
New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Probate Records, 1843-1998," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSSD-CQPN-P?cc=1865481&wc=4B25-X31%3A1045247701%2C1588877423 : 21 February 2019), Auckland Court > Probate records 1923 P16876/23-P16900/23 > image 247 of 385; Archives New Zealand, Auckland Regional Office.