Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Rachel Williams was born on 7 July 1870 in Neath, Glamorganshire, Wales – the daughter of Llewellyn Scogg Williams, a stonemason, and Martha Scrivens.
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1874 on the Wellington and they settled in Otago.
Her father was jailed for nine months for theft in 1875 – he died in 1876.
Rachel’s mother died in 1881 and she and her siblings appear to have been sent to the Caversham Industrial School.
Rachel left school in 1885 and when she signed the suffrage petition she was working as a domestic servant at Riverside near Port Molyneux.
She married Benjamin Taylor, a farmer, on 8 April 1896 and they had six children.
In 1904 the family moved to Owaka where Benjamin died in 1919.
Rachel died in 1955, she is buried with Benjamin in the Owaka Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Free BDM https://www.freebmd.org.uk
GRO England https://www.gro.gov.uk
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/
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