Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Davina Beattie Baird was born in 1871 in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland – the daughter of David Baird, a shoemaker, and Mary Petrie. (See 77 Mary Baird)
She emigrated to Otago on the Nelson with her family in 1883 and when she signed the suffrage petition they were living in Outram, West Taieri and Davina was working as a dressmaker.
She married David Leslie, a clerk, on 25 December 1895 at the West Taieri Presbyterian Church in Outram and they had five children, two who died in childhood.
The family lived in Roslyn, Dunedin and, in 1945, they celebrated their Golden Wedding.
Davina died on 26 February 1947 and David died in 1955, they are buried in the family grave in the Northern 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