Isabella Frew

Surname:

Frew

Given names:

Isabella

Given address:

Union Street

Sheet No: 85

Town/Suburb:

Central Dunedin

City/Region:

Dunedin

Notes:

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley.

Isabella Dixon Williamson was born on 8 January 1858 in Dalmellington, Ayrshire, Scotland – the daughter of Robert Williamson, an ironstone miner, and Isabella Patrick. (See 121 I Williamson)

She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1864 on the Resolute and they settled in Dunedin.

Isabella married James Wallace Frew, a sawyer, on 2 July 1878 at Knox Church in Dunedin. They had four children, one who died in infancy, and when Isabella signed the suffrage petition they were living in Union Street.

James was declared bankrupt in 1894 and he died in Seacliff Asylum from pneumonia in 1898 – he is buried in the Northern Cemetery.

Isabella re-married on 18 February 1901 to Peter McGregor, a farmer from Kuri Bush south of Dunedin.

Donald died in 1915, also in Seacliff Asylum, and Isabella died on 26 March 1925 at her sister’s home in Highcliff – she is buried next to Peter in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.