Margaret (Dickson) Allison
Honor Code SignatorySigned 29 Aug 2019 | 18,415 contributions | 666 thank-yous | 3,986 connections
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Dr Margaret L Bailey (aka Mrs Margaret Allison) is a scientist, researcher, dancer and amateur genealogist who enjoys the challenges of using her research and other skills for various worthy causes.
Margaret was the second child of Peter and Jean Dickson, but her older sister died as a baby, so she was the oldest of their children. She was born in Cairnbrae Maternity Home, 24 Somme Parade, Wanganui which previously had been her father's family home when he was young. This house still exists as the Tamara Riverside Lodge[1]. She was named after her grandmother and great grandmother. Her birth was announced in the local newspaper[2].
As a baby she spent time in the Stewart Karitane Hospital, where Dr Helen Deem had worked. Two brothers and a sister were born after her.
She was educated at Gonville Primary School and Wanganui Girls' College. Her aunts had been pupils at this college soon after it started in 1891[3]. She then moved to Wellington to attend Victoria University of Wellington where she gained a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Mathematics ( graduated 1966) and a M.Sc. (1st Class in Chemistry) with a thesis, "Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of a Ferrous/Ascorbate Complex"[4] in 1967. During this time she was a DSIR bursar (the first woman so appointed), gaining work experience at the Chemistry Division and the Physics and Engineering Laboratory of the DSIR during holidays. For her last year she was a University Senior Scholar.
On 10 December 1966 Margaret married John Bailey in Khandallah Presbyterian Church, Wellington. The next day they flew to England to attend the University of Oxford where they enrolled at the Mathematics Institute to study under Prof Charles A Coulson[5]. They joined Linacre College, a new post-graduate mixed college. They both gained their D. Phil. in 1969 which was awarded in absentia in 1970. Margaret's thesis was entitled, "Some Quantum Theory Studies on Systems of Biological Interest".
They moved to San Jose, California for post-doctoral studies where Margaret attended the University of California at Berkeley under Prof Ignacio Tinoco Jr.[6]. From there they returned home in May 1970 when Margaret returned to Victoria University of Wellington for a two-year post-doctoral appointment.
Her first employment was at the Consumer's Institute as Project Officer. In 1978 she moved back to Chemistry Division, DSIR as Information Officer. From there, she was asked to join the audit team from the Commission for the Environment for the "Think Big" projects in 1980. After the change of Government in 1984, Margaret specialised in waste management. She joined the Ministry for the Environment's establishment unit in 1986, and became a Principal Policy Analyst for the Ministry. In 1991/1992 she was Task Group Leader of the Waste Minimisation Practices Task Group run by the Centre for Advanced Engineering as its Waste Management Project[7]. She retired in 1995.
She established her own research and advisory business soon after retirement and worked in that initially on waste minimisation issues. When her husband retired, she switched to doing his research on drinking drivers and fatal road accidents, work that she had helped him with since 1970. The results of that work are held by the National Library of New Zealand[8]. The business was wound up after her husband became too ill to work. He died on 4 August 2005 almost exactly a year after her mother. Disposing of other people's property became the major occupation.
In 2019 she married Rod Allison.
Margaret has been a dancer all her life, gaining her Elementary BBO in 1959. That year she started Scottish country dancing, a hobby that still continues. In 1985 Margaret started training to be a teacher and gained her Teacher's Certificate in 1989. She has taught a range of classes, at schools and at Club level. She has held official positions at Region and Club level. Most recently she was Region Tutor and Region Treasurer for the Southland Region of the New Zealand Branch of the RSCDS. In 2006 she went to sequence dance classes, and continues to dance at the Invercargill Club class and dances, usually as a "man" as she first was taught ballroom dancing at her Girls' College.
She is a keen gardener, having inherited green fingers from both her parents. Like her mother, she is interested in herbs and grows a number of those. She is a member of the Herb Federation of New Zealand.
She helped her mother with her genealogical research, often calling at overseas registry offices or libraries when she travelled overseas. In 2018 she was asked by her nephew for help with his work. That got her back into researching her family in more depth, including DNA tests at three major sites. As the oldest of her family on her father's line, her DNA is important for finding far-back connections.
In 2019 she joined up to WikiTree and has written several hundred profiles for her own family, those of her two husbands, and for others. She has met several cousins during her research. She enjoys being able to find as many sources as she can and weaving them into a narrative. She has participated in some of the Thons including a Source-A-Thon and a Scan-A-Thon.
As most of her ancestors are of Scottish origin, she spent time doing assignments during 2020 to learn the skills necessary for the Tartan Trail. She is a member of the Scotland Project, sometimes sourcing random profiles which may be distant cousins.
She featured in "Meet our Members" in 2020.
Margaret attended this anniversary event on 5 and 6 November 2022. Some videos were watched live, and others were watched afterwards. There was much of interest and a lot of new information. Her favourite session was An App-etizing Tour with Greg Clarke and playing the Fanduko game.
Parental relationship is confirmed by an AncestryDNA test match and a MyHeritageDNA test match between Margaret Bailey Allison and her brother Ian Dickson. Predicted relationship from Ancestry: brother, based on sharing 2,584 cM across 48 segments. Predicted relationship from MyHeritage: brother, based on sharing 2,763.5 cM across 37 segments.
All my profiles and other materials on WikiTree are to be passed to my nephew Tom Dickson if I am unable to manage them myself.
This week's connection theme is Game Show Hosts. Margaret is 22 degrees from Chuck Woolery, 22 degrees from Dick Clark, 22 degrees from Richard Dawson, 31 degrees from Cornelia Zulver, 39 degrees from Magnus Härenstam, 41 degrees from Steve Harvey, 24 degrees from Vicki Lawrence, 21 degrees from Allen Ludden, 25 degrees from Michael Strahan, 24 degrees from Alex Trebek, 20 degrees from Ian Turpie and 34 degrees from Léon Zitrone on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
D > Dickson | A > Allison > Margaret (Dickson) Allison
Categories: Dickson-4413 | Whanganui, Manawatū-Whanganui | Victoria University of Wellington | University of Oxford | Porirua, Wellington | New Zealand, Scientists | The Kiwi Crew Members | WikiTree Day Attendees
Once again it is time for our annual Ireland Project check-in.
1. Would you like to continue as a member of the project? 2. Do you have any suggestions for project priorities in the next year? 3. Do you have any interest in taking a more active role in the project and, if so, what might you be interested in doing?
A response to the check-in is one of the project’s few requirements for all members. Please either post a reply below or send me a private message on WikiTree. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll assume your interests have changed and you no longer have time to participate in the project.
Thank you for all of your contributions to WikiTree and to the Ireland Project.
Gach beannacht,
Jen, Ireland Project co-leader
The Profile Improvement Project (PIP) is performing a check-in with project members. Please review the following and respond to let us know that you are content with your current team or if you would like to be more involved.
The Project operates in a team structure. There are currently three participant PIP Teams -- The Maintenance Category Team, the Unknowns Team, and the Biography Team. There is also the Voyage Team which guides new Voyagers. See the Profile Improvement Project Teams for a brief outline of each team.
You're currently identified as a member of the Biography Team. The Biography Team works on profiles from their watchlist and other profiles that interest them.
You are also currently identified as a member of the Maintenance Category Team. Are you working on a particular category? Are you happy with the Team you are on? If you are interested in working with a different Team, please let us know.
If you have not already done so, we invite you to join the email GoogleGroup. We use the WikiTree Discord server #profile-improvement channel for our project. Neither is required; we also use the Profile_Improvement tag in G2G for Project announcements.
We thank you for all you do to help the Profile Improvement Project meet its goals. We would like to hear about the successes you’ve had and would also appreciate any feedback you have to help improve the Project. Please share your thoughts in a reply to this comment or via private message to one of us.
Sincerely,
Debi Hoag and Kay Knight, Co-Leaders, Profile Improvement Project
Robin Shaules, Project Coordinator, Profile Improvement Project
It is once again time for our annual Scotland Project check-in. Please respond within the next three weeks to let us know:
•If you would like to continue as a project member •If you are happy with your current teams or would you like to join a different team •How much time per month (on average) you spend working on Scottish profiles •Anything you’d like the Scotland Project to do more of in the future
You can respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message on WikiTree. If we don’t hear from you within the next three weeks we’ll assume your interests have changed or you are no longer able to participate in the Scotland Project at this time, and your badge will be removed. If your circumstances change later you will be welcome to reapply for membership.
On behalf of the Scotland Project, I would like to thank you for your commitment to the project's goals. Every single contribution you make helps improve Scottish profiles!
Sheena - Scotland Project Membership Coordinator
It is once again time for our annual Ireland Project check-in. Please respond within the next three weeks to let us know:
You can respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message on WikiTree. If we don’t hear from you within the next three weeks we’ll assume your interests have changed or you no longer are able to participate in the Ireland Project at this time, and your badge will be removed. If your circumstances change later you will be welcome to reapply for membership.
Many thanks for all that so many of you have contributed to the project in the past year, and very special thanks to those who answered the project’s call and gave generously of their time to be part of Team Seanchaithe during the most recent connect-a-thon. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
le dea-mhéin, Jen Hutton, Ireland Project co-leader
This year we are hoping to learn what our membership would like to accomplish over the next 12 months.
In case you aren't aware, this year is WikiTree's ""Year of Connections"" and the Project's leadership would like to contribute to this in as many ways as possible.
We would appreciate it if you would share your thoughts and ideas with us on how we can accomplish this goal. We would also appreciate it if you would provide some feedback on our existing goals, including:
We continue to communicate with our Project members via Google Group (official) and Discord (unofficial), as well as G2G. You may also reach out to any of the Project leaders via WikiTree's internal messaging system at any time.
Thank you for all you do to help the Scotland Project become a knowledge hub for Scottish genealogical research! We wish you all the best in 2022!
Sincerely, Amy Gilpin on behalf of the Scotland Project Leaders
It’s time for our annual Ireland Project check-in! Please respond within the next two weeks to let me know:
Please respond to this message by posting a reply below or sending me a private message on WikiTree. If we don’t hear from you within two weeks, we will assume you are no longer interested in participating in the Ireland Project, and your badge will be removed. If you wish to reapply for membership later, we will be happy to have you back. Many thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Sincerely,
Jen Hutton, on behalf of the Ireland Project
The Profile Improvement Project (PIP) is performing its first annual check-in with our project members. Please review the following and let us know if you are content where we have placed you or would like to be more involved.
We are in the process of transitioning to a team structure. There will be three participant PIP Teams to start -- The Maintenance Category Team, the Unknowns Team, and the Biography Team. There is also the Voyage Team who guide new Voyagers. See the Profile Improvement Project Teams for a brief outline of each team. You're currently identified as a member of the Biography Team Level 1, working on profiles from your own watchlist and whatever else you find. Biography Teams Levels 2 and 3 will work on designated profiles for notables (Level 3) and everyday people (Level 2). Please let us know if you would like to help with another Team.
We would also like to invite you to join the email GoogleGroup and text chat Discord channel for our project. (When you request to join our GoogleGroup, please be sure to include your Wiki ID). Neither is required; we also use the Profile_Improvement tag in G2G for Project announcements. You will find more information on the GoogleGroup.
We thank you for all you do to help the Profile Improvement Project and WikiTree. The Project’s mission is to:
We know you’re working on profiles *smile* We would like to hear about successes you’ve had toward the Project’s goals. We would also appreciate any feedback you might have to help us improve the Project. Please share your thoughts in a reply to this comment or privately via private message to either of us.
Sincerely,
Debi Hoag and Robin Shaules Co-Leaders, Profile Improvement Project
Hi Margaret
I would like to invite you to join the KiwiCrew in the upcoming Connect-A-Thon. Last year you did an excellent job with 212 profiles created. Simply post an answer on this Post saying "Yes, I'd like to participate with the KiwiCrew"
Once registered, you will receive your Connect-a-Thon badge and a special invitation to our Kiwi Crew Discord Server.
For more information, view the KiwiCrew Team page
Happy WikiTreeing, Campbell
I was doing a DataDoctor Challenge to fix reference tags, and found this profile: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ross-23635. It has your name at the bottom as the author. This may very well be the best written profile I've ever seen. It is great! You did a wonderful job with it! Jana
It’s time for a Project check-in!
Scotland Project Leaders check in with you at least once a year to see how you are doing. With the changes happening around the world, we understand that life is hectic right now.
What are you planning to work on for the Scotland Project this year? Are you happy with the team(s) you part of, or would you like to make some changes?
This time round, we’re also looking for feedback on the use of Google Group and Discord. Do you use one or both of these? If you don’t use either of them, what is the best way to ensure you receive Project communications? If you would like to join us on Google Group or Discord, let us know in your response.
have just read your story of mary mclean born 1840 she was "married" to my great great granddad robert kemp hargreaves, do you know what happened to him? Alf
Fiona
Thank you for your participation in October’s 2020 Source-a-thon. Your contributions helped us to clear over 57,000 profiles that needed sourcing. This makes our Shared Tree all that much better.
Keep up the great work!
Pippin Sheppard WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
Thanks for all the work you accomplished during our Connect-A-Thon 2020. It is amazing how many more profiles were created and added to our Shared Tree. You have every right to be pleased with your efforts!
Kind regards,
Pippin Sheppard ~ WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
We'd love to have you join the Twisted Thistles in the upcoming Connect-a-thon the weekend of July 17 - July 20. If you'd like to join us and help to develop our ever-expanding Scottish tree, please register on the G2G post here and be sure to mention you'd like to be on the Twisted Thistles team for Scotland.
We also have our team Chat page posted here.
Seems like you have jumped into a couple of projecst already! Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Pre-1700 ancestors can be shared by many descendants, so collaboration is essential. You can learn more about joining the community in the Project FAQ.
Sources are very important here on Wikitree, especially on Pre-1700 profiles. It is how we show where we got the info and helps others find it too. Find out more about sources here and more detailed info here.
If you have any questions, click reply below this message and I will get back to you.
Peggy ~ Pre-1700 Greeter
edited by Margaret (Dickson) Allison
Thanks so very much for your participation in the spring Clean-a-thon! Every suggestion you cleared (over 200!) made our Tree that much better. The WikiTree community appreciates YOU!
Pip Sheppard WikiTree’s Appreciation Team
The Appreciate Team THANKS YOU!
Pippin Sheppard Appreciation Team Member
As you have been a member of WikiTree for a few weeks now I thought I would check in to see how you are getting on with the site.
Has the How-to been helpful or left you with any questions?
I am here to help with any problems or queries you may have. Just click my name, then ask in the comment section of my page or send me a private message.
Sometimes links don't work in emails. If that's happened to you, check the public comments on your profile. The links will work from there.
Karen ~ WikiTree Messenger
We are delighted that you wish to continue contributing to the New Zealand Project.
Please click here to submit a short Member Interest Form to help us organize and coordinate collaboration.
Thank you!
Fiona ~ Volunteer Coordinator
As part of a revitalization effort for the New Zealand Project, we are checking-in with members to see if they are planning to remain active and make project-specific contributions in the upcoming months.
If you have other obligations at the moment and would like to be removed from the project at this time, you will always be welcome to rejoin if you find yourself with more time and interest later.
All of us at WikiTree would like to thank you for your contributions and hope that you are enjoying exploring your roots.
Please respond by commenting on my profile or sending a private message. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Fiona ~ Volunteer Coordinator
Cheryl
I've added the project badge to your profile and your name to the members interest page. Good luck with your research.
Maria
I've added the project badge to your profile and your name to the members interest page. Good luck with your research.
Maria
I am pleased to confirm you as a full member, and welcome you to the WikiTree family, your contributions will go a long way to joining the world together.
I would suggest starting with the New Member How To Pages, they will save you a lot of time and frustration.
I am here to answer any question you have, no matter how trivial you may think it is. There is no such thing as a silly question. Please add as much information as you can, it all helps to turn a name back into a person. I hope you enjoy the site
Happy tree climbing
Cheryl ~ WikiTree Greeter
P.S. If links do not work in an email from WikiTree, try them from the comment section on your profile page.
This is just a note to say hi and to let you know that I'm available to answer questions about joining WikiTree.
To contact me, click the link to my name, then send a private message or post a comment on my profile page.
David ~ WikiTree Greeter
P.S. If links do not work in an email from WikiTree, try them from the comment section of your profile.