Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Janet/Jane Gilfillan was born about 1832 in Glasgow, Scotland.
She emigrated to New Zealand and she had a daughter in 1872.
Janet married Walter Tarbet on 8 August 1873 in Dunedin and they had a daughter in 1874.
Walter was admitted to the 'Lunatic Asylum' in 1879 due to suffering epileptic fits. He died there in 1882, aged 43 and is buried in the Northern Cemetery, Dunedin.
When Jane signed the suffrage petition she was living in Elm Row working as a charwoman.
She died at her daughter’s home in Middlemarch on 31 August 1914 and is buried in the Middlemarch Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz