Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Christina Fraser Shanks was born on 5 December 1863 in Dundee, Scotland – the daughter of William Shanks, a seaman, and Christina Fraser.
Christina emigrated to Otago in 1888 on the Ionic - also on board was her future husband Alexander Patterson, a labourer.
They married later that year and they had nine children, one who died in infancy.
When Christina signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Walker St, Dunedin.
Alexander died in 1909 and Christina died at her home on 18 December 1943, they are buried together with two of their children in the Southern 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
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