Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella Bain was born about 1827 in Nairnshire, Scotland. She married James Cameron, a porter, in Nairnshire in 1846. They had a son in 1850 while living in Inverness, followed by a daughter.
The family emigrated to Australia and a further two children were born in 1856 and 1859.
They came to Otago in about 1862. James died soon after their arrival, possibly the James Cameron who died in February 1863 and who is buried in the Southern Cemetery.
Isabella re-married in 1867 to William Wilkie. The marriage does not appear to have been a happy one. In 1877 William was bound over to keep the peace on a charge of wife beating; the following year he was imprisoned on a charge of breaking several panes of glass in his wife’s house: 'complainant has a protection order, and defendant habitually annoys her.'
When she signed the suffrage petition Isabella was living in Lower York Place, Dunedin, also living there was her daughter Janet.
Isabella died on 1 April 1901 at her home in Lower York Place and she is buried in the Northern Cemetery with her family.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
BDM Victoria https://online.justice.vic.gov.au
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
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