James John Thacker and his father were builders and mortar masons in Devon. James John married Mary Ann Pearce CHRISTOPHER and together with their sis children they sailed to Napier NZ on the HELEN DENNY in 1874. James was attached to the council , farmed in central Hawkes Bay and became the Govt Inspector of Works He died in Auckland in 1928. Mary Ann is buried in the old Gorge cemetery in HB.
. Florence Jane Christopher THACKER was my gr grandmother and was their eldest child. She married Thomas Francis QUINLIVAN- racehorse trainer of Hastings. Under the Flockhouse scheme a descendant of James' brother arrived in NZ in the 1920's. He had no idea that he had such close relatives settled there since 1874 and I have made contact with his gr grandaughter - it was a revelation to that side of the family.