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Headstone - Stephen Charles Hartley

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Description: This image of a headstone was taken at Terrace End Cemetery. Stephen Hartley is believed to be the first European to visit the Papaioea clearing which later became the central area in the site of Palmerston township. Hartley was born in Falworth, England in 1825 and emigrated to New Zealand with his parents in 1840 on the "Duke of Roxburgh." The family settled in Wellington where he married Dinah Mace Howe in 1846. He is thought to have moved to Manawatū shortly after his marriage as from 1847 he was in business as a trader and ropemaker at Pohuetangi, near present day Shannon on the banks of the Manawatū River.

In about 1876 Hartley moved downriver and lived near the town of Foxton until he came to live in Palmerston North about 1880. Tradition has it that he lived very near the actual spot where he had landed years before. Hartley worked as a Māori interpreter and land agent until his death in 1897.