Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Rachel McLeod was born on 16 January 1831 in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland – the daughter of Evander McLeod, a messenger at arms, and Jean Taylor.
Rachel married Walter Ure, a clerk, on 18 July 1861 in Glasgow and they had four children, at least one who died in infancy, before they emigrated to New Zealand about 1869.
Walter, at first, worked as a teacher at Hamiltons near the Mt Ida Goldfields where their last two children were born.
When Rachel signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Mailor St, Mornington, Dunedin and Walter was working as a law clerk.
Walter died in 1899 and Rachel died on 17 September 1902 at her son’s home in Mosgiel. They are buried in the family grave 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/
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