Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Grace McGregor was born about 1842 in Glasgow, Scotland. She married Robert Couper, a cabinet maker, about 1865. They had four children, one having died in infancy, when they emigrated to Otago on the “Peter Denny” in 1875. Another four children were born in New Zealand.
When Grace signed the suffrage petition she was living on Walker St, Dunedin, and working as a storekeeper. She does not seem to be living with her husband although her will describes her as “wife of Robert Couper”. She left her piano to one daughter and her sewing machine and harp to another.
Grace died on 14 August 1904. She is buried in the Northern 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