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 223

District of Patea Quarter ending 31 December 1875 Registrar James Hirst

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

7 October 1875

William Eustace Whitcombe
Ellen Jenkins

William E Whitcombe
Ellen Jenkins
💍 1875/2255

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

27 years
18 years

Waihi
Waihi

3 years
5 years

Mrs. Jenkins' house, Retemarae

75/2412

Catherine Jane Jenkins, mother

7 October 1875

Rev. N McCallum

No	40
Date of Notice	7 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Eustace Whitcombe	Ellen Jenkins
BDM Match (88%)	William E Whitcombe	Ellen Jenkins
	💍 1875/2255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	27 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Jenkins' house, Retemarae
Folio	75/2412
Consent	Catherine Jane Jenkins, mother
Date of Certificate	7 October 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. N McCallum

7 October 1875

Joseph Hynes
Ellen Rolfe

Joseph Heynes
Ellen Rolfe
💍 1875/2205

Bachelor
Spinster

Armed Constable
Domestic

28 years
18 years

Waitotora
Wairoa

5 years
2 years

Registrar's Office

75/2386

Jesse Rolfe, father Wairoa

20 October 1875

James Hirst, Registrar, Patea

No	41
Date of Notice	7 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hynes	Ellen Rolfe
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Heynes	Ellen Rolfe
	💍 1875/2205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Armed Constable	Domestic
Age	28 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Waitotora	Wairoa
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	75/2386
Consent	Jesse Rolfe, father Wairoa
Date of Certificate	20 October 1875
Officiating Minister	James Hirst, Registrar, Patea

27 November 1875

Robert Erskine
Sarah Stroud

Robert Erskine
Sarah Stroud
💍 1875/2256

Bachelor
Spinster

Livery Stable Keeper
Domestic

24 years
22 years

Carlyle
Carlyle

3 months
2 months

D. O'Sullivan's house, Carlyle

75/2413

27 November 1875

Rev. N McCallum

No	42
Date of Notice	27 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Erskine	Sarah Stroud
	💍 1875/2256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Livery Stable Keeper	Domestic
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Carlyle	Carlyle
Length of Residence	3 months	2 months
Marriage Place	D. O'Sullivan's house, Carlyle
Folio	75/2413
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. N McCallum

30 November 1875

Felix Hunger
Margareth Gredig

Felix Hunger
Margreth Gredig
💍 1875/2257

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

38 years
24 years

Hawera
Hawera

2 months
2 months

Mr. Gredig's house, Retemarae

75/2414

30 November 1875

Rev. N McCallum

No	43
Date of Notice	30 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Hunger	Margareth Gredig
BDM Match (97%)	Felix Hunger	Margreth Gredig
	💍 1875/2257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	38 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Mr. Gredig's house, Retemarae
Folio	75/2414
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. N McCallum

1 December 1875

Nathaniel Johnston
Harriet O'Donnell

Nathaniel Johnston
Harriet O'Donnell
💍 1875/2579

Bachelor
Spinster

A. C. Force
Domestic

25 years
18 years

Waihi
Retemarae

2 years
4 years

Mr. Brett's house, Retemarae

75/2616

J. O'Donnell father

1 December 1875

Rev. A. Dasent

No	44
Date of Notice	1 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathaniel Johnston	Harriet O'Donnell
	💍 1875/2579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	A. C. Force	Domestic
Age	25 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Retemarae
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Brett's house, Retemarae
Folio	75/2616
Consent	J. O'Donnell father
Date of Certificate	1 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Dasent

2 December 1875

Robert Albert Adams
Tasmania Smith

Robert Albert Adams
Tasmania Smith
💍 1875/2258

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Domestic

32 years
23 years

Carlyle
Carlyle

4 years
6 years

Mr. Adams' house, Carlyle

75/2415

2 December 1875

Rev. Thos. Reeve

No	45
Date of Notice	2 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Albert Adams	Tasmania Smith
	💍 1875/2258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Domestic
Age	32 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Carlyle	Carlyle
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Mr. Adams' house, Carlyle
Folio	75/2415
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Reeve

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

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

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).