Newman, Mehetabel (c. 1822–1908)
Newman, Mehetabel (c. 1822–1908)
New Zealand missionary, letter writer, and teacher. Name variations: Mehetabel Buttle, Mehetabel Warren. Born Mehetabel Newman, c. 1822 (baptized, Dec 22, 1822), in Lincolnshire, England; died Jan 8, 1908, in Yorkshire, England; dau. of Joseph Newman (farmer) and Eleanor Dawson; m. George Buttle (brother-in-law), 1873 (died 1874); m. John Warren, 1878 (died 1883).
Immigrated to New Zealand to join other family members (1844); lived with sister and brother-in-law, Methodist missionaries, south of Auckland, where she taught Maori girls to read, write, and sew; for decades, wrote letters home in which she described life on an inland mission and the experience of an unmarried woman in middle-class colonial society.
See also Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (Vol. 1).