Catherine Jérémie

Catherine Jérémie (1664–1744) was a French-Canadian midwife and botanist in New France.

Early life and family Catherine Jérémie was baptized in Champlain, Quebec, on September 22, 1664, to Jeanne Pelletier and trader Noël Jérémie. She was the eldest of 11 siblings; She was proceeded by Marie-Charlotte (baptized April 26, 1667), Nicolas (baptized February 1669), Francois (baptized 1671), Marie-Madeleine (born 1674), Louis (born 1676), Ignace (born October 29, 1684), Marie-Jeanne (baptized July 28, 1678), Charlotte-Judith (baptized November 23, 1705), and finally Joseph (baptized August 6, 1687).

Jérémie married Jacques Aubuchon in Champlain, Quebec, on January 28, 1681, and together they had one daughter. On November 3, 1688, Jérémie married Michel LePailleur in Batiscan, Quebec. Jérémie and LePailleur together had 10 or 11 children.

Jérémie died July 1, 1744, in Montreal, Quebec. She was particularly interested in the medicinal practices of the Indigenous populations of Canada. She studied these medicinal plant uses and further discovered many remedies.

Jérémie's knowledge of herbal remedies increased her reputation and practice as a midwife, as she was able to apply these uses specifically to women's healthcare, such as abortion, pregnancy and birth. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most midwives engaged in a private practice, were less costly than doctors, and stayed at their client's homes for longer periods of time while helping with household chores. Jérémie used the interventionist approach to healthcare, which contradicted the laissez-faire approach of many English scholars. She soon became known as a famed midwife and was referred to as "la magicienne de ma vie au Quebec" (the magician of my life in Quebec) by one of her clients.