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 149

District of Shortland Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar Edward Henry Power

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

548

18 March 1875

William Bromett
Elizabeth Harding

William Brownell
Elizabeth Harding
💍 1875/652

William Thompson Atkinson
Elizabeth Harding
💍 1876/540

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

28 years
20 years

Tararu
Thames

5 years
1 year

St. George's Church, Thames

75/434

18 March 1875

Rev. C. Lush

No	548
Date of Notice	18 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bromett	Elizabeth Harding
BDM Match (88%)	William Brownell	Elizabeth Harding
	💍 1875/652
BDM Match (72%)	William Thompson Atkinson	Elizabeth Harding
	💍 1876/540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Tararu	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	75/434
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Lush

549

19 March 1875

James Rankine Taylor
Hannah Smith

James Rankin Taylor
Hannah Smith
💍 1875/409

James Relph
Susannah Smith
💍 1875/579

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

32 years
32 years

Thames
Thames

6 years
1 month

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Shortland

75/420

19 March 1875

Edwd. Hy. Power

No	549
Date of Notice	19 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Rankine Taylor	Hannah Smith
BDM Match (98%)	James Rankin Taylor	Hannah Smith
	💍 1875/409
BDM Match (62%)	James Relph	Susannah Smith
	💍 1875/579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	32 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	1 month
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Shortland
Folio	75/420
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Edwd. Hy. Power

550

24 March 1875

Phillip Jacob Lewes
Susannah Philpol Herivel

Phillip Jacob Lerres
Susannah Philpot Merivel
💍 1875/48

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Miner

28 years
18 years

Thames
Thames

6 years
7 years

In the dwelling house occupied by Mr. John Herivel, Pollen St., Thames

75/420

William John Herivel, The father

24 March 1875

Rev. John Crump.

No	550
Date of Notice	24 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip Jacob Lewes	Susannah Philpol Herivel
BDM Match (91%)	Phillip Jacob Lerres	Susannah Philpot Merivel
	💍 1875/48
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Miner
Age	28 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house occupied by Mr. John Herivel, Pollen St., Thames
Folio	75/420
Consent	William John Herivel, The father
Date of Certificate	24 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Crump.

551

25 March 1875

John Erasmus
Jane Livingstone

John Erasmus
Jean Livingstone
💍 1875/870

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Miner

40 years
26 years

Tararu
Waiotahi

6 years
1 year

St. George's Church, Thames

75/450

25 March 1875

Rev. C. Lush

No	551
Date of Notice	25 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Erasmus	Jane Livingstone
BDM Match (94%)	John Erasmus	Jean Livingstone
	💍 1875/870
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Miner
Age	40 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Tararu	Waiotahi
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	75/450
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Lush

552

25 March 1875

Moses Paul
Mary Rome

Moses Paull
Mary Rowe
💍 1875/883

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Miner

24 years
19 years

Thames
Thames

2 years
5 years

In the dwelling house occupied by William Rome, Moanataiari, Thames

75/450

William Rome, The father

26 March 1875

Rev. John Crump

No	552
Date of Notice	25 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Moses Paul	Mary Rome
BDM Match (90%)	Moses Paull	Mary Rowe
	💍 1875/883
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Miner
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house occupied by William Rome, Moanataiari, Thames
Folio	75/450
Consent	William Rome, The father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Crump

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).