Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Gillan was born on 10 September 1857 in Dalry, Ayrshire, Scotland – the daughter of James Gillan, a mill worker, and Mary Shedden.
Her mother died when Elizabeth was an infant and her father re-married in 1860.
The family emigrated to Otago in the mid-1860s and settled in Dunedin where Elizabeth married William Ross Swanston, a storekeeper, on 16 July 1880.
They had eight children, two who died in infancy and early childhood.
When Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition they were living in Kaikorai Valley Road.
When Elizabeth died on 12 July 1914 only two of their children were still alive.
William died in 1929 – he is buried with Elizabeth in the family grave 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
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
