Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Madeline Downie Donaldson was born about 1846 in Linlithgowshire, Scotland – the daughter of Captain John Donaldson and Agnes Stevens.
She emigrated to New Zealand in the early 1870’s and she married carpenter Frederick John Tully on 26 November 1873 at Station Peak in the Waitaki Valley.
They had three children when, in December 1878, Frederick shot himself while under the influence of alcohol. He is buried in the Old Waimate Cemetery.
Madeline moved to Dunedin where she married John Sinclair on 13 March 1882 at Knox Church.
Madeline and John had a son later that year and when she signed the suffrage petition she was living in Ascot Vale, North East Valley.
She died at her home on 15 September 1902 and is buried in the family grave in the Northern Cemetery.
What became of John Sinclair is unknown.
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
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
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