Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Margaret was born about 1850 in Ireland - she was married to Richard Williams, the engineer on a ship.
They had five children and lived in Queenstown where Margaret signed the suffrage petition.
Richard appears to have frequently worked away from home - in 1889 he was working at Pembroke when Margaret applied to the court for protection of her property as he had 'never sent her any money'. In the early 1890s Richard was working as an engineer on a dredge near Clyde.
Margaret died at Queenstown on 14 September 1900 and is buried in the Queenstown Cemetery.
Richard’s place and date of death are unknown.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.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