Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Elfleda Mary Millen was born about 1853 in Glasgow, Scotland – the daughter of James Millen and Mary Hill Watson.
She emigrated to New Zealand in the late 1860s and her son Andrew was born in 1876.
Elfleda married James Austin, a miner, on 5 October 1877 in the Cromwell Parish and they had nine children.
When Elfleda signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Cardrona where James died in 1915 – he is buried in the Cardrona Cemetery.
Elfleda later moved to Arrowtown before taking a trip to Dunedin for medical treatment.
She died there on 29 April 1928 and she is buried in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Her obituary says she was 'of a quiet and retiring disposition...highly respected by all who knew her'.
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
Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.govt.nz/
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
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