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 070

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar J. M. Wayland Registrar

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

19 February 1875

Fredrick Walter Collins
Eliza Grace Williams

Frederick Walter Collins
Eliza Grace Williams
💍 1875/179

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller

21
18

Auckland
Auckland

15 years
14 years

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Symonds St.

75/110

Consent of Thomas Williams, Father.

6 March 1875

Revd B. T. Dudley, boff

No	59
Date of Notice	19 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick Walter Collins	Eliza Grace Williams
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Walter Collins	Eliza Grace Williams
	💍 1875/179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Symonds St.
Folio	75/110
Consent	Consent of Thomas Williams, Father.
Date of Certificate	6 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd B. T. Dudley, boff

20 February 1875

Joseph Michael Syms
Helen Smith

Joseph Michael Syms
Helen Smith
💍 1875/30

Bachelor
Spinster

Hair-dresser

22
22

Auckland
Auckland

From Britt.
7 years

Dwelling house of Mr. J. Harris.

75/114

20 February 1875

Revd Wm Tinsley, Prin

No	60
Date of Notice	20 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Michael Syms	Helen Smith
	💍 1875/30
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hair-dresser
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	From Britt.	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. J. Harris.
Folio	75/114
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Wm Tinsley, Prin

20 February 1875

William Earl
Julia Madeleine Williams

William Earl
Julia Madeline Williams
💍 1875/270

Widower
Spinster

Settler

46
27

Auckland
Remuera

6 years
9 years

St. Mark's Church, Remuera.

75/278

20 February 1875

Venble Archdn L. Pritt, boff

No	61
Date of Notice	20 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Earl	Julia Madeleine Williams
BDM Match (98%)	William Earl	Julia Madeline Williams
	💍 1875/270
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	46	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Remuera.
Folio	75/278
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Venble Archdn L. Pritt, boff

22 February 1875

Joseph Penman
Theresa Bradley

Joseph Penman
Teresa Bradley
💍 1875/329

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
25

Otahuhu
North Shore

10 years
12 years

The dwelling house of the Revd J. Wallis M.D., Auckland.

75/369

10 March 1875

Revd Jas. Wallis M.D., mo

No	62
Date of Notice	22 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Penman	Theresa Bradley
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Penman	Teresa Bradley
	💍 1875/329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	North Shore
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of the Revd J. Wallis M.D., Auckland.
Folio	75/369
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Jas. Wallis M.D., mo

22 February 1875

William Augustus Probert
Clara Louisa Hamplins

William Augustus Probert
Clara Louisa Hampshire
💍 1875/201

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dress-maker

28
25

Mount Eden
Newton

9 years
18 years

Epiphany Chapel, Newton.

75/108

22 February 1875

Revd B. T. Dudley.

No	63
Date of Notice	22 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Augustus Probert	Clara Louisa Hamplins
BDM Match (91%)	William Augustus Probert	Clara Louisa Hampshire
	💍 1875/201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dress-maker
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Mount Eden	Newton
Length of Residence	9 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Epiphany Chapel, Newton.
Folio	75/108
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd B. T. Dudley.

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).