Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Susannah Lowden was born in 1871 in Durham, England, the daughter of John Lowden, a millwright, and Alice Isabella Todd.
She emigrated to New Zealand with her father’s extended family in 1879 on the Taranaki. They lived for a time in Oamaru before moving to Mataura in Southland.
Susannah married Edwin Townshend on July 15th 1896. The week before Susannah was presented with “a handsome writing desk” by the Mataura Sunday school who she had been connected with for a considerable time.
They married at the Mataura Presbyterian Church, and after the wedding breakfast the “happy couple left for Invercargill by the evening train” en route to their new home in Taranaki.
They had four children, one who died in infancy. Edwin worked at various management jobs in dairy factories before retiring to farming.
He died in 1927 in Paeroa, and Susannah died on January 11th 1950. They are buried together in the Pukerimu Lawn Cemetery.
Sources
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