Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Johanna/Joan McGregor was born about 1827 in Perthshire, Scotland.
She married John McLaren, a shepherd, on 27 December 1850 in Kilmadock, Perthshire and they had four children before emigrating to Otago in 1860 on the Silistria.
They had a daughter the year after they arrived in New Zealand who died in 1864.
John worked as a drover for many years before working as a cab driver in Dunedin.
When Joan signed the suffrage petition she was living in Howe St, Dunedin.
John died in 1900 and Joan died on 24 August 1909, they are buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Joan’s obituary said she 'proved herself an ideal colonist, not only in battling with the many difficulties of making a home in a new country, but in bringing up her young family without much assistance from her husband, whose occupation (a sheep drover) caused him to be much away from home, and oftentimes for months at a time. Notwithstanding, she always found time to visit and in many ways assist those who were in trouble; and there are many families in and around Dunedin to-day who will long cherish her memory.'
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