Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret/Maggie Leith was born on 13 July 1866 in Methven, Perthshire, Scotland – the daughter of James Leith, a gardener, and Margaret Brodie.
She emigrated to Otago in 1874 with her family on the Mairi Bhan and they settled at Otakou on the Otago Peninsula.
She married Christopher Gwyn, a farmer, on 26 August 1891 at her parent’s home and when she signed the suffrage petition they were living in Broad Bay.
They moved to the Catlins in 1896 and they adopted two children in the 1900s.
Later in life they lived in Kaponga in Taranaki where Margaret died on 30 April 1938, she is buried in the Kaponga Cemetery.
Christopher re-married in 1943 – he died in 1951 in Christchurch and is buried in the Ruru Lawn Cemetery.
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
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
Christchurch City Council http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com
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