In March 1841, my Fairweather ancestors arrived in Wellington, NZ, sponsored by the New Zealand Company. Robert and Barbara both had TB and had been encouraged to take the 4 month voyage to NZ where the climate might be kinder to them. However, after 10 years, they both succumbed to complications of the disease, leaving 7 children, aged from 17 to less than a year. They were Wesleyan Methodists and are likely buried in this graveyard, which used to stand beside the church. The church is gone but the city of Lower Hutt maintains this area. The monument to the left acknowledges the unmarked and mostly unknown burials, including that of their eldest daughter who died in 1861.
