More Info →Stephen and Dinah Hartley

Stephen Charles Hartley (1826-1897), and his wife Dinah (1825-1898), were some of the earliest settlers, coming to the district c1846. Stephen went into business as a trader and rope-maker at Pohuetangi on the south bank of the river, about a mile downstream from the Shannon Bridge, for about thirty years. He then moved to near Foxton and subsequently settled in Palmerston North where he was in business as a Maori Interpreter c1878-1897. Hartley is said to be the first European to see 'Papaiōea' clearing (which formed the basis of the site of Palmerston North), probably during the late 1840s or early 1850s.