Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Ellen/Helen Forrester was born on 20 December 1855 in Glasgow, Scotland – the daughter of Andrew Forrester, an iron turner, and Elizabeth Parker.
In 1878 Ellen, with her widowed mother, travelled as a nominated immigrant to Otago on the Timaru.
She married James Ward, a bootmaker, in 1881 and they had two children.
When Ellen signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Gisborne St, South Dunedin. (Now known as Oxford St)
Ellen died on 19 July 1923 and James died in 1933, they are buried together in the Andersons Bay 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
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