A remote atoll where nearly everyone descends from one Englishman
Palmerston Island, Cook Islands
William Marsters settled Palmerston in the 1860s with three Polynesian wives, and his descendants still govern the island's three family clans today.
Palmerston Island is a remote coral atoll in the Cook Islands, roughly 470 kilometers northwest of the capital Rarotonga, reachable only by an infrequent supply ship that visits a few times a year. Captain James Cook first sighted the atoll in 1774, but its permanent settlement began in 1863 when an English carpenter named William Marsters arrived with three Polynesian wives and settled the uninhabited island. Marsters organized his large family into three distinct clans based on each wife's descendants, a social structure that persists today. Nearly all of the island's roughly 30 to 60 residents, population fluctuates with seasons and opportunity, are direct descendants of Marsters, making it one of the most genetically concentrated communities on Earth. The island has no airstrip, limited internet, and infrequent shipping, and continues to rely on fishing, coconut cultivation, and remittances from relatives who have moved abroad, while maintaining strong ties to its unusual single-family founding story.
One Man, Three Wives, One Island
William Marsters, originally from Gloucestershire, England, arrived on the then-uninhabited Palmerston atoll in 1863 under contract with a trading company. He took three Polynesian wives and had numerous children, dividing the island's land and social organization into three branches corresponding to each wife's family line, a structure still recognized in island governance today.
A Population Frozen in Time
Because of Palmerston's extreme isolation, nearly all residents share the Marsters surname and can trace their lineage directly to the founding patriarch. This has created a tightly knit, insular community where genealogy doubles as the basic organizing principle of local politics and land allocation.
Life on the Edge of the Pacific
Palmerston has no regular air service, and supply ships may visit only two to four times a year, requiring residents to be largely self-sufficient through fishing, parrotfish and coconut crab harvesting, and small-scale trade. Freshwater comes primarily from rainwater collection, and modern conveniences like reliable internet have only recently begun reaching the island.
Preserving a Unique Heritage
Despite the hardships of isolation, many descendants who leave for education or work in Rarotonga or New Zealand maintain strong ties to Palmerston, occasionally returning to visit or contribute to community projects. The island's unusual founding story has made it a subject of anthropological interest and occasional media coverage documenting one of the world's most singularly-descended populations.
Fun facts
- Nearly every resident of Palmerston Island shares the surname Marsters, descending from a single 19th century settler.
- William Marsters organized the island into three family districts based on his three wives' descendants, still respected today.
- The island receives supply ships only a few times per year, making it one of the most isolated inhabited places in the Pacific.
- Palmerston has no airstrip; visitors must arrive by boat, often chartered yachts making Pacific crossings.
- The population fluctuates seasonally but is typically well under 100 people at any given time.
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Text on this page is original Terralocate editorial. Background facts compiled from the public sources listed above. Images via Wikimedia Commons under their respective licenses (typically CC BY-SA or public domain).