Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sarah Paterson was born about 1843 in Haddingtonshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Paterson, a plumber, and Mary Perkins.
Sarah’s mother died when she was young and, in 1861, she emigrated to Otago with two of her brothers on the Lady Egidia and settled in Dunedin.
Sarah married William Bissland, an express driver, on 11 March 1864 in Dunedin and they had five children before William died suddenly in 1873 when their youngest child was a young baby. Sarah re-married on 27 August 1878 to Frederick Thomas Borham Hamer, a labourer and widower with seven grown up children - they had a further three children.
When Sarah signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Howe St, Dunedin near her daughter (See 54 Mrs E Vine)
Frederick died at their home in 1909, he is buried with his first wife in the Southern Cemetery.
Sarah also died at home on 4 January 1920, she is buried with her first husband also in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
NZ Yesteryears http://www.yesteryears.co.nz
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
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.
Community contributions