Harriett Preece (1834 - 1917) was the first child of James and Mary Ann Preece, lay missionaries of the Church Missionary Society. She was born at the Puriri mission station near the present township of Thames. Puriri, the site of a Maori village, was at this time the furtherest mission from the Bay of Islands.
The mission houses had been built the previous year at the time of the opening of the mission. They were made in the Maori fashion using timber frames over which rush walls and roof thatchings were secured. Sawn planks were placed over the mud floors. The site was subject to flooding. The mission compound was surrounded by a fence of closely woven stakes. Harriett's father was often away on his tours to out-lying villages.
In spite of these primitive conditions young Harriett thrived. She was the object of intense curiosity. One of the Maori women became her special carer. Harriett learned to speak Maori fluently.
Harriett was taught at home by her mother and then by a governess. Later she and some of her younger brothers and sisters attended a private school.
Harriett shared the work of the missions in some of the remotest parts of New Zealand. She taught Maori girls to read and sew. Later she began teaching at her old school in Auckland. While there she met her future husband.
Archibald Hitchins Spicer had emigrated to New Zealand in 1851. He was a good looking young man, who was employed as a clerk in the Customs Office. Later he worked for Lands and Deeds.They married and lived in Auckland. Of their ten children, only six survived.
Archie died aged fifty-three but Harriett lived until eighty-two years of age. She loved to tell her children and grand-children stories from the early days in New Zealand.
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