Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.
Elizabeth Donaldson was born about 1826 in England.
She married William Thompson, a widower with one son on 26 August 1855 in Strood, Kent.
They had four children and William worked as a labourer in an arsenal.
Their eldest daughter Fanny emigrated to Otago in 1874 and Elizabeth followed with the three youngest children in 1878 on the “Rokeby Hall”.
In 1885 Fanny took Elizabeth to court over the ownership of furniture in the house they had shared. The judge advised them to “come to some arrangement” and that they “should endeavour to come to terms”.
Elizabeth died at Fanny and her husband’s home in Dunedin on 13 August 1898 – she is buried in the Northern Cemetery.
Sources:
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
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