Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret Turnbull was born on 27 March 1831 in Largo, Fife, Scotland – the daughter of John Turnbull, an agricultural labourer, and Euphemia Birrell.
She married John Watt, a joiner, on 25 July 1856 in Newburn, Fife and they had a daughter the following year.
The family emigrated to New Zealand in the 1860’s – they settled in Bluff and had two sons.
Margaret signed the suffrage petition in Bluff – John died in 1895 and their youngest son died in 1909 in South Africa.
Margaret died at her daughter’s home in Bluff on 21 December 1914 – she is buried with John in the Bluff Cemetery.
Her obituary said 'her kindly disposition and genial manner made her many friends, who mourn her loss.'
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
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz
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