Originally transcribed as Margaret Findes
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret McHardy was born on 21 September 1853 in Aberdeen, Scotland – the daughter of William McHardy and Isabella Dick.
Her father died when she was young and Margaret grew up in Morayshire where her mother ran a boarding house.
She married Thomas Fiddes, a farm labourer, on 26 June 1872 in Nairnshire. They had two children before they emigrated to Otago in 1877 on the Wiltshire.
A further seven children were added to the family after their arrival, they lived in Oamaru then Kurow where they farmed before coming to Dunedin in the 1890s.
When Margaret signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Leith Walk.
Thomas died in 1919 at his residence 'The Willows' near Duntroon in North Otago & Margaret died on 27 September 1922 also at Duntroon.
They are buried together in the Duntroon Cemetery.
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
Waitaki District Council https://www.waitaki.govt.nz/our-services
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