FERRYMEAD – James Townsend (1788 – 1866)

Before discussing James Townsend, one must know the story of a young settler, who had just made his way down the Bridle Path in 1851 and made note of who had been the first real European settler (quite a noble title for a dead man!) in what would become Ferrymead. Jutting out of from the …

The Ward Brothers

Maybe it had been the tedious bumpy ROADLESS journey over the sea of tussock – from Hawkins (a stone’s throw from Darfield) to Rolleston – that made the farmhand lower the new plough down to harvesting position before he towed it back to Bangor in which he worked. He had been sent out hours before …