I. M. Dryden

Surname:

Dryden

Given names:

I. M.

Given address:

Dundus St

Sheet No: 45

Town/Suburb:

Central Dunedin

City/Region:

Dunedin

Notes:

Originally transcribed as T M Dryden.

She also signed as 142 Isabella M Dryden

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.

Isabella Moffat Dryden was born on 5 September 1866 in Glasgow, Scotland – the daughter of John Dryden, an iron moulder, and Elizabeth Willoughby.

She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1879 on the Taranaki and when Isabella signed the suffrage petition she was living in Dundas St, Dunedin working as a tailoress.

She married John Fraser on 5 April 1899 – John was a 65 year old widower with four grown up children who worked as the caretaker of the Southern Reservoir.

John died in 1904 – he is buried with his first wife in the Southern Cemetery.

Isabella re-married in 1907 to James Brown, a widower with four children. James died in 1924 – he is also buried with his first wife, in the Northern Cemetery.

Isabella died on 23 April 1940 at her niece’s home in Dunedin – she is buried with her parents in the Northern Cemetery.