Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret/Maggie Moore Finch was born in 1869 in New Zealand – the daughter of John Finch, a farmer, and Margaret Strain.
She had a son in 1892 and when she signed the suffrage petition she was living with her family at Milburn, near Milton.
Margaret married William Wilson McLean, a farm labourer on 6 July 1898 at her family home.
They had twin sons the following year, one who died in infancy.
In the late 1900s the family moved to Okaiawa near Hawera in the North Island.
Margaret moved south again, apparently without William – she was living in Milburn with her sister when her son Edward was discharged from the army.
Margaret died at her sister’s home on 22 August 1921, she is buried in the Fairfax Cemetery, Milton.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
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/
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