Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Sarah Franklin was born about 1853 in Ayrshire, Scotland, the daughter of Thomas Franklin, a baker, and Margaret Spence.
She married Thomas Campbell Melville, a ship’s carpenter, on December 29th 1871 in Lanarkshire. They had four children before they emigrated to Otago in 1879 on the Auckland.
Their name appears to change between Melville and Melvin after they arrived in New Zealand.
They had a further eight children which included a son who appears to have been born on board the ship.
When Sarah signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Belleknowes in Dunedin.
Thomas died in 1908 and Sarah died at her home on May 28th 1921. They are buried in the family grave in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
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