Maker: Nicky Street

Panel number: 219

Petition sheet number: 259

Person honouring: Isabella Lang

Relationship to maker: Great-grandmother

Isabella [Bella] McIntosh was probably a strict taskmistress, instilling her strong Celtic discipline in her children. 

She was born in November 1870 to Mary McRae and Donald McIntosh. Bella’s parents had emigrated to New Zealand from the Isle of Skye in Scotland, arriving on the Mayflower between 1850 and 1860. They settled at Saltwater Creek in North Canterbury.

Aged 21, Bella married 31-year-old farmer Fredrick Lang of nearby Sefton in August 1891 – at her parents’ residence at Saltwater Creek. 

She and Fred lived in a two-storey house on Dicks Road, Sefton, where all water had to be carried from a nearby creek. The kitchen had an earthen floor. Bella’s interests were her garden, the outdoors, knitting, and church. Bella and Fred had six children – three girls and three boys. Their oldest son Jim was killed in World War 1, in December 1917.

Bella signed the 1893 petition in Sefton and continued to be enrolled to vote in this area.

She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, teaching Sunday School. She could speak some Gaelic.

Bella died in February 1947, aged 77 years; she was buried in Balcairn cemetery, North Canterbury. Fred had been buried here in 1935.

Panel materials: Fabrics I had or had been given. Linen, cotton bed sheeting.