suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Peters
Given names: 
Margaret
Given address: 
Caversham
Sheet No: 57
Town/Suburb: 
Caversham
City/Region: 
Dunedin
Notes: 

Also signed as 66 Margaret Peters

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Margaret McPherson was born about 1852, probably in Scotland – the daughter of William McPherson and Marion.

She came to New Zealand with her parents in about 1854 and married Isaac Peters, a bootmaker, in 1871. They had ten children and lived in Beaumont, Clyde, and in Alexandra, before they moved to Dunedin. When Margaret signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Cargill Rd, Caversham, and Margaret was working as a shirt manufacturer.

In 1901 Margaret brought a court case against Isaac on the grounds that he “had habitually failed to provide a maintenance for her and her family without such failure being caused by sickness or any other unavoidable cause, and she was therefore desirous of obtaining an order protecting her earnings and property from her husband and all creditors”.

They had lived apart at intervals for many years and had not resided together for the last twelve months, by virtue of a deed of separation. The court case was thrown out due to the fact that a separation order already existed.

Shortly after this Margaret and her son Alfred took the lease of the George Hotel in Port Chalmers then the Gridiron Hotel in Dunedin. Things did not go well with the business and their lease was terminated due to Alfred breaking the licencing laws. In 1902 Margaret was declared bankrupt; she owed £1,740 8s 9d.

Isaac died in 1918 and he is buried in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin. Margaret died in Wellington on 9 November 1929 and she is buried in the Karori Cemetery, Wellington.

Sources

BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Otago Nominal Index  http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past  https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Wellington City Council  https://wellington.govt.nz

See also Caversham research databases

Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

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