Location confirmed by Papers Past
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elizabeth Wilson was born about 1850 in Lanarkshire, Scotland – the daughter of Samuel Wilson, a coal miner, and Margaret Machan.
She married Robert McKay/McKee, a miner, in 1867 and they had five sons before they emigrated to New Zealand about 1881.
They had three daughters after their arrival and lived, at first at Blue Spur then at Wetherstons where Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition.
Around this time the family went into the drapery business. Robert travelled around the district selling goods from a van and Elizabeth looked after the 'new and fashionable drapery' shop in Lawrence assisted by her daughters.
Robert died at their home in Lawrence in 1916 and Elizabeth died at her daughter’s home on 21 November 1926, they are buried together in the Lawrence 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
Interment.net http://www.interment.net/data/nz/otago/lawrence
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