Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Elizabeth Deans was born about 1830 in Ireland, the daughter of Samuel Deans and Margaret.
By 1841 the family had moved to Renfrewshire in Scotland, where her father worked as a cotton bleacher.
Elizabeth married William McLean on April 24th 1852 in Eastwood, Renfrewshire. They had three children before they emigrated to Otago on the Strathallan, arriving in January 1858.
They settled in Waikouaiti, north of Dunedin, where they had a further seven children and where Elizabeth signed the suffrage petition.
William died in 1905, and Elizabeth died at her home on June 10th 1909. They are buried together in the Waikouaiti 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