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 179

District of Turanga Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar J. H. Stubbs

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

101

14 January 1875

James Nash Howard Strong
Florence Bach

James Noah Howard Stronge
Florence Bach
💍 1875/190

Bachelor
Spinster

Setter

31
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

8 years
1 year

At the residence of Mr T. Piesso Gisborne

75/120

14 January 1875

Rev. I. Murphy

No	101
Date of Notice	14 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Nash Howard Strong	Florence Bach
BDM Match (94%)	James Noah Howard Stronge	Florence Bach
	💍 1875/190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Setter
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr T. Piesso Gisborne
Folio	75/120
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Murphy

102

19 January 1875

Charles Debenham Bennett
Jessie Dunlop

Ch D Bennett
Jessie Dunlop
💍 1875/189

Bachelor
Spinster

Sub Inspector A.C.

39
20

Poverty Bay
Poverty Bay

2 years
20 years

At the residence of B. Sherriff Esqr Gisborne

75/119

James Dunlop, Father of Minor

19 January 1875

Rev. I. Murphy

No	102
Date of Notice	19 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Debenham Bennett	Jessie Dunlop
BDM Match (75%)	Ch D Bennett	Jessie Dunlop
	💍 1875/189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sub Inspector A.C.
Age	39	20
Dwelling Place	Poverty Bay	Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of B. Sherriff Esqr Gisborne
Folio	75/119
Consent	James Dunlop, Father of Minor
Date of Certificate	19 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Murphy

103

6 February 1875

John Sampey
Elizabeth Fanny Braybrook

John Sampey
Elizabeth Fanny Braybrook
💍 1875/390

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

32
23

Merewai Poverty Bay
Merewai Poverty Bay

4 years
7 months

Registrars Office, Gisborne.

75/104

6 February 1875

J. H. Stubbs, Registrar

No	103
Date of Notice	6 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sampey	Elizabeth Fanny Braybrook
	💍 1875/390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Merewai Poverty Bay	Merewai Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Gisborne.
Folio	75/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1875
Officiating Minister	J. H. Stubbs, Registrar

104

5 March 1875

Samson Johnson
Constancia Hanson

Samson Johnson
Constancia Hanson
💍 1875/1099

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
3 months

At the residence of Revd W. H. Root Gisborne

75/129

5 March 1875

Revd W. H. Root

No	104
Date of Notice	5 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samson Johnson	Constancia Hanson
	💍 1875/1099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Revd W. H. Root Gisborne
Folio	75/129
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd W. H. Root

105

6 March 1875

Henry Fisher
Emily Wray

Henry Fisher
Emily Wray
💍 1875/368

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

35
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
8 months

Registrars Office Gisborne

75/108

6 March 1875

J. H. Stubbs, Registrar

No	105
Date of Notice	6 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Fisher	Emily Wray
	💍 1875/368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Gisborne
Folio	75/108
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1875
Officiating Minister	J. H. Stubbs, Registrar

106

10 March 1875

Richard George Nash
Emma Cull

Richard George Nash
Emma Cull
💍 1875/1101

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

21
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
1 year

At the residence of Mr R. Copner Gisborne

75/122

10 March 1875

H. C.

No	106
Date of Notice	10 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard George Nash	Emma Cull
	💍 1875/1101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr R. Copner Gisborne
Folio	75/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1875
Officiating Minister	H. C.

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).