Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sarah Pargiter was born on 28 November 1840 in Montrose, Angus, Scotland – the daughter of Thomas Pargiter and Margaret Ballie.
Sarah emigrated to Otago in 1872 on the Hydaspes. She married Alexander Officer in 1875. They had no children.
In 1884 Alexander held a publican’s licence for the 'Duke of Edinburgh Hotel' in Dunkeld and was applying to transfer the licence to a house in Kelso.
In 1893 he took over the 'Royal Hotel' in Kelso and that December was charged with lunacy due to chronic delirium tremens and committed to Seacliff Asylum.
Alexander died the following April. Sarah applied to run the hotel but prohibition started in the Clutha district in 1894 and she was not able to open the hotel but ran it as a boarding house and store. Sarah faced sly grog charges in 1895, she was fined £15.
Sarah died on 27 September 1918, at her niece’s residence in Dunedin. She is buried in the Waitati Cemetery with her husband.
Sources
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
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