Samuel Stephens

Samuel Stephens (26 January 1803 – 26 June 1855) was a 19th-century surveyor and New Zealand politician. Biography Stephens was born on 26 January 1803 in Bridport, Dorset, England. On 5 February 1838, he married Sarah Bennett (born 1812) in Shaftesbury. They came to New Zealand, with him as First Chief Assistant of the surveying staff to Frederick Tuckett on the New Zealand Company Nelson Preliminary Expedition in September 1841. They arrived near present-day Motueka on 9 October 1841 on the Whitby. The New Zealand Governor Captain Hobson had told the New Zealand Company that it could only found a settlement in the vicinity of Blind Bay in accordance with an agreement reached with local Maori. On 9 October Captain Wakefield, Tuckett, Stephens, and their guide a Mr Moore landed at Kaiteriteri and discussed possible alternative locations with the local Maori. Apparently the local Maori omitted to mention Nelson haven as they wanted the settlement constructed near their pa site. It was another two weeks before the New Zealand Company discovered Nelson haven and a further week before Wakefield decided to make it the place of settlement (either late September or early October 1841). Stephens assisted in surveying Nelson's town acres, as well as the Tākaka and Aorere valleys. For much of his time in the Province he lived at Riwaka. His neighbours were a native couple, Mary and Etani, who were on friendly terms with his family. In January 1843 he noted: "Oh! How do I blush for my countrymen, when I write that our fears for the safety of ourselves and property are not from the natives, but from the gangs of bad white men who now infest the country."