A cache to bring you to Mastertons' original cemetery and final resting place of many of our founding families.
This cemetery began in odd circumstances in late 1855. A pile of clothes was discovered nearby on the bank of the Waipoua River and it was assumed that someone had drowned. Mr. Richard Iorns was told to dig a grave for the absent body, as it was assumed it would shortly be recovered. Iorns dug the grave, but no body was ever found. Unfortunately for Iorns he then caught a chill that developed into pneumonia and this led to his death. Iorns was then buried in the very grave that he had dug. The exact location of this grave is now unknown, but believed to be near the location of the grave of Iorns' father-in-law, and Masterton founder, Joseph Masters.
People were buried at the site from 1856 but it did not officially become a cemetery until 1875 through an Act of Parliament — and then, there was not a proper register of deaths held until 1878.
Nearby is the final resting place of Mastertons' first mayor. He was the local saddler, R.G. Williams, who was returned unopposed in 1877. Williams was an energetic and charismatic Irishman, said to be the only man in Masterton capable of debating on an equal footing with the equally charismatic A.W. Renall. Williams was a one-term mayor, serving for just one year, and later suffered a series of business setbacks.