See also Caversham research databases
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Catherine Swanson was born in 1836 in Wick, Caithness, Scotland – the daughter of George Swanson, a crofter, and Margaret Leith.
She married William Cardno, a rope maker, in Wick in 1854, they had two children in Wick before moving to Aberdeen where their next five children were born.
In 1874 William sailed for Otago with their nine-year-old son Joseph – they appear to have returned to Scotland in 1877 before William returned to New Zealand a couple of years later.
Their last child was born in 1879 - Catherine worked as a sick nurse and a midwife before the she emigrated to Otago in 1882 on the “Lyttleton”with their four youngest children to join William. In 1885 Catherine was advertising her services in the paper 'Mrs Cardno, Certificated MIDWIFE and LADY’S NURSE'
When she signed the suffrage petition the family were living in Playfair St, Caversham.
Catherine died at her home on 18 May 1918 and William died in 1920, they are buried together in the Southern Cemetery.
Sources
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteries-search
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Scotlands People https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk
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