Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jessie McGrouther was born in 1854 in Stirlingshire, Scotland – the daughter of James McGrouther, a farmer, and Catherine McNaughton Stuart.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1858 on the Strathfieldsaye and they settled in the Tokomairiro district.
Jessie married George Finch, a farmer, on 1 March 1876 in the Knox Church Manse, Dunedin.
They had 11 children and when Jessie signed the suffrage petition they were living at their farm “Helensbrook” near Milton.
They later farmed at Kaitangata, then at Stirling, where they celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1926.
Jessie died later that year on 5 October, her obituary said she 'was of a kind and generous disposition so often found and deeply planted in the early settlers.'
After Jessie’s death George went to live in Milton where he died in 1931, they are both buried in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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
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