Maker: Patricia Meehan

Panel number: 106

Petition Sheet Number: 111

Person honouring: Margaret Abbott

Relationship to makers: Great-grandmother

Margaret Abbott was born Margaret Wallace in Aberdeen about 1850. She emigrated to Otago on the Peter Denny in 1865. In 1868 she married John Ramsay. They had six sons and one daughter; John Francis, William Henry, Charles Fleximan, James Gillan, Eva Eleanor, David and (John) Richard. 

In 1878 John Ramsay died aged 39. Margaret then married his good friend John Abbott, who had promised to look after her. They had two sons and two daughters; Catherine Beatrice, Walter Wallace, Margaret Mary Ann and Alfred Herbert. The family lived in a two-storied house in Serpentine Avenue in Dunedin and John Abbott worked for the Union Steam Ship Company for many years. Margaret was known to stick to her principles, once having a disagreement with the local High Street primary school just round the corner and thereafter sending her children to a school over the other side of town. Having only three daughters but eight sons motivated her to sign the suffrage petition to promote women’s rights. Sadly three of Margaret’s sons predeceased her: Davie died at home in 1897, Walter died in a train accident in 1904 and John Francis (a seaman) died in Washington in 1905.

Margaret died in Dunedin in 1915 aged 65 after a productive and happy life. Her husband John Abbott went on his retirement trip to the UK after her death with their daughter Margaret. He died in 1918 aged nearly 80.

Panel materials: Old embossed cotton tablecloth and some embroidery my aunt/mother had done. Bought embroidery cotton and kiwi themed pictures. I used lighter cotton to print photos for the panel. I also bought ribbon with kiwi and tartan themes to use.