Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Henderson was born about 1840 in Argyllshire, Scotland.
She married Duncan McTaggart, a blacksmith, on 21 July 1868 in Tarbert, Argyllshire and soon after they emigrated to Otago.
They settled in Waitahuna, South Otago and had eight children, two who died in infancy.
Duncan was declared bankrupt in 1889 and as a result, the following year, the official assignee sold their 'wooden house at Waitahuna West, also a horse, saddle and bridle, and three cows'. When Margaret signed the suffrage petition the family were still living in Waitahuna.
Margaret died at the Lawerence Hospital on 4 August 1900, as the result of blood poisioning. She was of a quiet, gentle, and lovable disposition, and will be much missed by all with whom she was intimately acquainted'.
Duncan died at their daughter’s home in Dunedin in 1921, they are buried in the family grave in the Waitahuna Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions