Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Marion Smith Lochhead was born on 25 August 1862 in Glasgow, Scotland – the daughter of William David Lochhead, a civil engineer, and Mary Armour Hill.
She emigrated to Otago in 1863 with her parents on the City of Dunedin.
In 1867 her father died while surveying land at Sandymount on the Otago Peninsula. He was 'in indifferent health' and when he left the house he was staying in 'he was mentally deranged'. His naked body was found on a steep hillside, the verdict of the inquest was 'the deceased died from exposure to cold and wet'.
Marion attended the North District School in Dunedin and when she signed the suffrage petition she was living in Athol Place.
She married David James Bower on 17 October 1906 in Dunedin.
David was a farmer and widower with one son.
In 1909 David was declared insolvent.
Marion continued to live in Dunedin where she died on 11 August 1926, she is buried with her mother in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
David moved to the Poverty Bay area where he died in 1935, he is buried in the Taruheru 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/
Gisborne District Council https://cemeterysearch.gdc.govt.nz/
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