The Spain family in NZ.
Read this and if you can find a link ,post it.
I am also looking in "Kent" for links to the Spains.
Thomas George was my G-father
The Spain family, as far as we know, lived in Kent England and were farm labourers.
The earliest documents show their signatures as crosses so it is fair to say that they were not royalty.
The earliest names we have at this time are EDMOND Spain who was married to MARY ANN (nee GOODCHILD).
Their son CHARLES EDWARD Spain was born in Great Mongeham in the county of Kent on the 23 November 1857.
Charles (20) was an able seaman and was much traveled before he married FANNY MAY ELISABETH HAMMOND (18) at the parish church, Whitfield Kent on the 26th February 1877. Both Fanny and Charles signed their names with a cross on their marriage certificate.
They had a small holding in Kent and grew hops and tobacco, their first son, THOMAS GEORGE was born at Westmarsh Ash in the County of Kent on the 19th June 1878.
Charles, Fanny and their five month old son Thomas George, travelled to New Zealand aboard the ship Stad Haarlem and in April the 25th 1879 disembarked at Lyttelton. The family then moved to Waimate were the family increased.
It was in the years of the “Industrial Revolution” steam machinery was starting to be introduced in the farming scene and as whole districts became more mechanically reliant, farm workers were no longer needed. Horses and workers were both being made redundant in the face of steam driven implements. Famine and poverty among the subsistence farmers and their townsfolk was becoming more apparent and small holdings were being incorporated into larger amalgamations, in some cases just by way of debt relief. This is the catalyst that eventually invoked the immigration of large numbers of country folk from all over the British Iles to both Australia and New Zealand and the new colonies of the Southern oceans. The trades and the skills these immigrants bought with them, and they were many, was the foundation on which these new young countries were to be developed.
According to the “The Press, 17 April 1879 p.2” and the diary of one Mr Alf Simmonds
“ The immigrants comprise three hundred hop agriculturalists. These are represented by Mr Alf Simmonds the secretary of the Labour Union, who is a passenger by the vessel. Mr Simmonds has brought with him a quantity of hop plants, and before returning to England will give his attention to acquiring information respecting the adaptability of this country for the hop raising industry.”
FANNY MARY (Aunty JEAN) born Waimate in 1880 (married FOOT and had at least one son named Herbie. (Herbie Foot) Died in Christchurch.
ANNIE SARAH born Waimate 1882. Married Archie White who had an orchard in Tasman. The Whites adopted a daughter named Lorna who later lived in Tauranga.
ROSE LAVINIA Born Waimate in 1884 Married Hornblow, the Mayor of Dargaville.
MAY Born Timaru in 1890.
ETHAL LUCAS was adopted 1892 Lived in Dunback
AMY GERTUDE Born Timaru 1892 . Married Dan McCurdie and lived in Lower Hutt after moving from Dunedin. They had a son named Charlie who later drove railway busses.
DOROTHY Married a baker in Dunedin had two daughters Freda and Laurel.
CHARLES EDMUND (Spain)Born at Timaru in 1895. Later married a Hilda Mary Watkins.
JESSIE HAMMOND Born at Timaru on the 1st April 1897 Later married a Arther Cyril Bond at Dunedin an the 1st March 1920, had a daughter Joyce and a son Arther.
ALFRED RAYMON (Spain) Born at Timaru in 1901 and died in 1936.
The Spain Family moved to Dunedin about this time.
Thomas George was the oldest child of this family and was also the only child not born in New Zealand. Thomas worked on farms around Timaru and the North East Valley. At one time had an employer named Leckie.
Thomas married CHRISTINA SNEDDON at the registry office in Dunedin on the 27th March 1900.
Christina was born at Saddle Hill (Mosgiel) on the 1st of January 1880.
Thomas was working at the saddle hill coal mine owned by his father in law, JAMES SNEDDON when there was a collapse and his back was broken. He was paralysed for a time and had to learn to walk again.
At about the same time their oldest son, GEORGE was kicked by a horse which badly injured his head. It was a trying time for Thomas and Christina as she was also in child with her second son Norman.
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