Catherine Carran (née McKay, 1842 – 6 November 1935) was a half-

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

midwife and nurse who spent her early life in the

Waikato Waikato () is a Regions of New Zealand, local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton City ...

, and most of her adult life in the

Fortrose Fortrose (; gd, A' Chananaich, sco, Chainry) is a town and former royal burgh in Highland, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is on the Moray Firth, about north-east of Inverness. The burgh is a popular location for trying to spot bottlenose dolp ...

area of

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

. She was born probably at Putataka (now called

Port Waikato Port Waikato is on the south bank of the Waikato River at its outflow into the Tasman Sea, in northern New Zealand. Port Waikato is a well-known surfing and whitebaiting destination and a popular holiday spot. Fish can be caught off the rocks ...

), in the Waikato district, in 1842. She was the third child of John Horton McKay, a

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

storekeeper, and Irihāpeti Te Paea, a Māori woman whose tribal associations were with

and

Ngāti Pūkeko Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

of Whakatane. She learned housekeeping and nursing skills, and became a devout Christian. Two of her brothers became respected

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

interpreters. Catherine married William Carran, a stock keeper, at Waitetuna, Raglan, on 29 October 1860. In 1861 William moved from the Waikato to Archibald and James Campbell's

Waimahaka Waimahaka is a locality in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated in a rural area, inland from Toetoes Bay. Nearby settlements include Pine Bush and Titiroa to the northwest, Fortification and Te Peka to the east, ...

station in Southland, where Catherine joined him. Within a year they moved to the ferry house at Fortrose, where William was the ferryman at the

Mataura River The Mataura River is in the Southland Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is long. Description The river's headwaters are located in the Eyre Mountains to the south of Lake Wakatipu. From there it flows southeast towards Gore, New ...

mouth for six years. They then moved to a farm at Seaward Bush, near

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. William drowned in June 1871, and Catherine returned to Fortrose. Her brother Ben McKay came from the Waikato to help her and stayed on. Catherine began nursing for settler women. In about 1872 she bought a small farm and on 11 November 1872 married William Henry Patterson, a miner from the United States. Catherine continued work as midwife and housekeeper at Fortrose. She died on 6 November 1935.

References

1842 births 1935 deaths New Zealand midwives Ngāti Awa people Waikato Tainui people New Zealand Māori midwives People from Southland, New Zealand People from Waikato People from the Catlins {{NewZealand-med-bio-stub