Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Catherine/Kate Downie Hain was born on 19 September 1866 in Auchtermuchty, Fifeshire, Scotland – the daughter of William Hain, a weighing machine maker and lay preacher, and Jessie Hardie. (See 346 Jessie Hain)
She emigrated to Otago with her family in 1880 on the Marlborough and they settled in Invercargill before moving to Orepuki where Catherine signed the suffrage petition.
She married John Alexander Stirling, a labourer, in 1894 and they had seven children.
The family lived at Waimahaka near Fortrose in Southland where, later in life, they had a farm.
Catherine died on 27 September 1943 and John died in 1950, they are buried together in the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz