James and Mary (nee May) Spain were my great great great Grandparents.
My Mother and Aunt have done quite a bit of research on their family this is a little bit about one of our earliest New Zealand ancestors.
James Spain, aged 32 on the passenger list(really 42), was one of a group of men who were engaged by The New Zealand Company to set up the new town of Nelson. Records show his place of residence as being Minster, Isle of Thanet, Kent. He left England on the 2nd of May 1841 sailing on the 'Whitby' and arriving in Nelson on the 18th of Sept.
The men were promised paid employment for two years after their arrival. James was engaged by Capt. Liardet as a workman.
Mary, with their three children, Elizabeth 10, John 8 and Charlotte 5, travelled out with the other wives and children on the 'Lloyds" arriving in Nelson the 11th or 15 th of Feb 1842.
This is one of the saddest voyages and has it's own story in history. There were 73 women and 139 children on board. 65 children died on route to New Zealand.
It would appear that Elizabeth, John and Charlotte all made it. Certainly Charlotte did as she grew up to marry Thomas Astle
Mary died, in Nelson, aged 88 in 1883 and James, aged 86, in 1885.