Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane Alison was born about 1845 in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland – the daughter of William Alison, a tailor, and Jane Cochrane.
She married John Swan, a coal miner, on 3 October 1862 in Dalkeith and they had seven children, two who died in infancy.
The family emigrated to Otago in 1875 on the Invercargill and settled in Dunedin where their last three children were born.
John ran a coal merchant’s business and when Jane signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Albany Street.
John died in 1910 and Jane died on 14 April 1915, they are buried in the family grave 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
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk