She was the daughter of James Nelson and his wife, Anna Maria Dale of Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire.

[4] On 12 August William and Jane embarked on Sir George Osborne to sail to Sydney, Australia, then on to Paihia, Bay of Islands, where they arrived on 25 March 1826.

[13] The teachers included the wives of other CMS missionaries, her daughters, nieces or future daughters-in-law.

On 23 and 24 December 1835 Charles Darwin visited while HMS Beagle spent 10 days in the Bay of Islands.

[1][19] They left Waerenga-a-Hika in Poverty Bay in 1865 when it was threatened by a band of Pai Mārire (Hauhau) and returned to Paihia for two years.