Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Johnston was born about 1835 in Ayrshire, Scotland.
She married Hugh McCutcheon, a cattle dealer and widower with two daughters, on 10 October 1859 in Dailly, Ayrshire.
They had five children before the family emigrated to Otago in 1870 on the William Davie and a further five children after their arrival.
They ran the Australasian Hotel in Maclaggan St and Hugh was also in charge of the Andersons Bay toll booth.
In 1876 Hugh was working as a baker when their five-year-old daughter Janet was knocked down by a tram and died at Caversham.
In 1881 they built the Ayrshire Hotel in Kensington which they ran for a time before they retired to Ravensbourne.
Hugh died in 1902 and Margaret died at her home on 23 November 1924, they are buried in the family grave in the Southern 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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/