Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Alice Isabella Todd was born in 1854 in the village of Coxgreen in Durham, England, the daughter of John Todd, a waterman, and Susanna Turtin.
She married John Lowden, a millwright, in 1870. They had three children before they emigrated to New Zealand with John’s extended family in 1879 on the Taranaki.
They lived for a time in Oamaru before moving to Mataura in Southland. They had a further three children and John worked erecting machinery for the Mataura paper works.
In the early 1920s they moved to Auckland where John died in 1924.
Alice died on October 5th 1927 in Paeroa. She is buried with John in the Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland.
Her obituary said she “was always an ardent worker in any movement for the good of the community, especially during the war period. She was also an energetic church worker, and possessed an amiable and courteous disposition”.
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