Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Shewan was born about 1826 in the Shetland Islands – the daughter of John Shewan, a sailor, and Helen Garrick.
She married Robert Irvine on 6 December 1853 in North Leith, Edinburghshire and they had a daughter in 1855 (See 248 Mrs Tait)
What happened to Robert is not known.
By 1866 Margaret was living in Greymouth where she married Henry Read Pridgeon on 26 September at the Union Hotel.
Margaret and Henry had two sons, one who died in infancy. Henry ran the Butchers’ Arms Hotel in Greymouth then a butcher’s shop at No Name on the West Coast goldfields.
In 1873 when he was declared bankrupt the family were farming at Totara Flat.
Henry died in Hokitika in 1883 – he is buried in the Hokitika Cemetery.
Margaret signed the suffrage petition in Cobden, signing directly below her daughter Harriet.
When Harriet’s family moved to Timaru in 1897 Margaret went with them.
She died at her daughter’s home on 19 December 1907 and is buried in the Timaru Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/