Originally transcribed as J M Paterson
Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley
Isabella McKay Begg was born about 1858 in the Romahapa district – the daughter of Alexander Sutherland Begg, a saw & flour mill owner, and Jane Mary Traill Calder.
She married William Paterson, a storekeeper, on 8 June 1881 at her parents’ home 'The Glen' at Romahapa - they had four children.
The family ran a general store in Puerua where Isabella signed the suffrage petition.
In the early 1910s William retired from business and they moved to Dunedin.
They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 1941, 'a very happy afternoon was spent with old friends' at their daughter’s home in Dunedin.
William died in 1943 and Isabella died on 21 December 1950, they are buried in the family grave in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
DCC Cemetery Records http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/facilities/cemeteries/cemeteriessearch
Family Search https://www.familysearch.org
Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz
Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/
Find a Grave https://www.findagrave.com/