Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Agnes McClymont Cherry was born about 1855 in Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland – the daughter of Jonas Cherry, a cotton weaver, and Mary Ann Thornton.
She emigrated to Queensland, Australia with her family in 1863 on the Rockhampton and the family settled near Rockhampton in Queensland.
Agnes married Lewis Gibson, a railway guard in 1871 and they had six children, two who died in infancy.
In the early 1880s the family moved to New Zealand where they had a further eight children, one who died young.
They lived in Christchurch and Clinton before moving to Lawrence in Central Otago where Agnes signed the suffrage petition.
Shortly after this they moved to Oamaru where Agnes died on 13 May 1905.
Lewis died at their daughter’s home in Patea in 1920. They are buried together in the Oamaru Cemetery.
Sources
Waitaki District Council https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/
Queensland Govt https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/
Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz