Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 266

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1875

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

25 January 1875

William Morey
Elizabeth Mary Douglas

William Moorey
Elizabeth Mary Douglas
💍 1875/3166

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
gardener

23
17

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
12 months

St. Peter's Church, Te Aro

75/13

Louisa M. Sudd, Mother

8 February 1875

Ven. Archdeacon Stock

No	22
Date of Notice	25 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morey	Elizabeth Mary Douglas
BDM Match (96%)	William Moorey	Elizabeth Mary Douglas
	💍 1875/3166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	gardener
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Te Aro
Folio	75/13
Consent	Louisa M. Sudd, Mother
Date of Certificate	8 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stock

26 January 1875

John Henry Cumming
Mary Ann McDonald

John Henry Cummin
Mary Ann McDonald
💍 1875/313

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
18 months

St. Peter's Church, Te Aro

75/324

No person authorised

9 February 1875

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	23
Date of Notice	26 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Cumming	Mary Ann McDonald
BDM Match (97%)	John Henry Cummin	Mary Ann McDonald
	💍 1875/313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Te Aro
Folio	75/324
Consent	No person authorised
Date of Certificate	9 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

26 January 1875

John McGuire
Louise Williams

John Maguire
Louise Williams
💍 1875/572

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Dressmaker

38
32

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Hill Street

75/672

26 January 1875

Rev. M. Kearney

No	24
Date of Notice	26 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGuire	Louise Williams
BDM Match (92%)	John Maguire	Louise Williams
	💍 1875/572
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Dressmaker
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Hill Street
Folio	75/672
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Kearney

26 January 1875

Matthew Thomas
Margaret Drysdail

Matthew Thomas
Margaret Drysdail
💍 1875/99

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

37
21

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Wesleyan Chapel, Manners Street

75/155

26 January 1875

Rev. J. J. Lewis

No	25
Date of Notice	26 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Thomas	Margaret Drysdail
	💍 1875/99
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel, Manners Street
Folio	75/155
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lewis

27 January 1875

Henry Farley
Elizabeth Jane Anstis

Henry Farley
Elizabeth Jane Anstin
💍 1875/309

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Servant

26
24

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
12 months

St. Paul's Church, Thorndon

75/344

27 January 1875

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	26
Date of Notice	27 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Farley	Elizabeth Jane Anstis
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Farley	Elizabeth Jane Anstin
	💍 1875/309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Servant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Thorndon
Folio	75/344
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

27 January 1875

Peter Thradeen
Sarah Ann Wheeler

Peter Ahradsen
Sarah Ann Wheeler
💍 1875/403

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer
Needlewoman

35
35

Wellington
Wellington

5 months
5 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

75/440

28 January 1875

Registrar of Marriages

No	27
Date of Notice	27 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Thradeen	Sarah Ann Wheeler
BDM Match (93%)	Peter Ahradsen	Sarah Ann Wheeler
	💍 1875/403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer	Needlewoman
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	75/440
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

27 January 1875

Kenyon Francis Travers
Emily Sarah Worth

Kenyon Francis Travers
Emily Sarah Worth
💍 1875/286

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
d. of C. F. Worth

26
19

Wellington
Wellington

21 months
3 years

House of C. F. Worth, Reclaimed Land

75/320

C. F. Worth, Father

27 January 1875

Rev. James Paterson

No	28
Date of Notice	27 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenyon Francis Travers	Emily Sarah Worth
	💍 1875/286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	d. of C. F. Worth
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 months	3 years
Marriage Place	House of C. F. Worth, Reclaimed Land
Folio	75/320
Consent	C. F. Worth, Father
Date of Certificate	27 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paterson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).