Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Jane McEwan was born on 7 February 1868 in Dalserf, Lanarkshire, Scotland – the daughter of John McEwan, a miner, and Mary Robertson.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1875 on the Nelson and they settled at Fairfield near Dunedin.
Jane’s mother apparently left the family about 1880 which would have left Jane to help in the house.
She had a son in 1884 and she married Alexander McAllan, a coal miner, in 1890.
Jane and Alexander had six children and when she signed the suffrage petition they were living at Walton Park, near Fairfield.
They later moved to Caversham where, in 1918, Alexander took his own life.
He 'had not been in good health for the last year, and some weeks ago he had influenza, but went back to work. His wife and three sons then developed the same trouble, and for four or five weeks deceased had been attending them'.
The Coroner’s verdict was that he 'committed suicide' when 'in a depressed state of mind arising from ill-health and worry'.
Jane died at her daughter’s home in Caversham on 16 April 1935 – she is buried with Alexander in the Green Island 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
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