Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Sophia Hastie was born on 7 March 1849 in Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, Scotland – the daughter of John Hastie, an agricultural labourer, and Isabella Henry.
Sophia married James Tait, a carpenter, in Edinburgh on 19 October 1870. They had one son before they emigrated to Otago in about 1875.
A further 11 children were born in New Zealand and, when she signed the suffrage petition, Sophia was living with her family in Neidpath Rd, Dunedin.
She died on 3 September 1906 and James died in 1922. They are buried with two of their children in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz