Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Martha Kirkland was born on 2 May 1860 in Glasgow, Scotland – the daughter of Rev James Kirkland and Mary Hamilton Dougal. (See 77 Mary Kirkland)
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1862 on the Pladda and the family lived at Inch Clutha and Hokitika before moving to West Taieri.
When Martha signed the suffrage petition she was living at the Manse, West Taieri in Outram working as a schoolteacher.
She married Robert Renton Grigor, a solicitor, on 5 April 1900, at her parent’s home and they had two daughters.
The family lived in Balclutha where Martha died on 6 August 1942 and Robert died in 1955, they were both cremated and their ashes were interred in the Balclutha 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/