Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Ann Cochrane Stewart was born on 6 January 1865 in Perth, Scotland – the daughter of Margaret Stewart.
In December 1866 her mother married John Cochrane, presumably Margaret’s father.
Margaret emigrated to Otago with her widowed mother, grandparents and two sisters in 1877 on the Canterbury and they settled in Dunedin.
When Margaret signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family in Grosvenor St, Kensington working as a booksewer.
She married James Buchan, an ironmoulder, in 1895, they do not appear to have had any children.
Margaret and James lived, for a time, in Dunedin before moving to Thames where James died in 1909. He is buried in the Shortland Cemetery, Thames.
Margaret’s movements after this are unsure, she may be the Margaret Ann Buchan who died in 1948 and is buried in the Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland.
Sources
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Thames District Council https://www.tcdc.govt.nz/Our-Services
Auckland Council https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/cemeteries