Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Matilda McClean was born about in Ireland, she married James O’Brien in the 1870s and they had a daughter in 1874.
The family emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the Earl of Zetland.
Another six children were born after their arrival in New Zealand, one who died in infancy.
They lived, at first, at Waihola south of Dunedin where James worked as a ploughman, later moving to Dunedin.
When Matilda signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Church St, Roslyn. (Now Nairn St).
She died on 16 November 1926 and is buried in the Andersons Bay Cemetery with her son John. It is not clear when or where James died.
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