Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Marshall was born about 1834 in Renfrewshire, Scotland – the daughter of Francis Marshall, a weaver, and Margaret Crawford.
She emigrated to Otago with her family on the Philip Laing which arrived in April 1848.
Margaret married John McLean, a shepherd, and fellow passenger on the Philip Laing in Dunedin on 16 March 1855 and they had a son the following year.
John drowned in 1857 while washing sheep in a creek near the Waitaki River.
Margaret remarried on 21 May 1858 in Dunedin to Robert Frew, a farmer. They had, at least, eight children – four who died in infancy.
Margaret’s son Henry McLean also died in 1860.
Robert died suddenly in 1889 while on a visit to Dunedin and when Margaret signed the suffrage petition the family were living at Woodside at West Taieri.
She died at her home on 12 January 1896 and is buried with Robert in the family grave in the West Taieri Cemetery.
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/
Going Abroad http://www.ngaiopress.com/drhocken.htm
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