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 245

District of Foxton Manawatu Quarter ending 30 June 1875 Registrar Thomas U Cook

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

2 April 1875

William Henery Winter
Mary Ann Clayton

William Wintersgill
Mary Ann Clayton
💍 1875/1077

Widower
Widow

Farmer

50 years
34 years

Foxton
Foxton

18 years
2 weeks

Residence of Mr. Mentersgill, Foxton

75/1248

2 April 1875

The Rev. J Duncan, Foxton

No	21
Date of Notice	2 April 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henery Winter	Mary Ann Clayton
BDM Match (76%)	William Wintersgill	Mary Ann Clayton
	💍 1875/1077
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	50 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	18 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Mentersgill, Foxton
Folio	75/1248
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1875
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J Duncan, Foxton

1 May 1875

James Mattershead Collins
Annie Cook

James M Collins
Anne Cook
💍 1875/1369

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

34 years
24 years

Foxton
Foxton

7 years
24 years

Church, Foxton

75/1442

1 May 1875

The Rev. J McWilliam, Otaki

No	22
Date of Notice	1 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mattershead Collins	Annie Cook
BDM Match (75%)	James M Collins	Anne Cook
	💍 1875/1369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	34 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church, Foxton
Folio	75/1442
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1875
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J McWilliam, Otaki

1 May 1875

George Serle Mayght
Edith Mary Mitchell

George Searle Wright
Edith Mary Mitchell
💍 1875/1078

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

32 years
18 years

Rouse Downs Manawatu
Rouse Downs Manawatu

3 months
3 months

Church, Foxton

75/1247

1 May 1875

The Rev. J Duncan, Foxton

No	23
Date of Notice	1 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Serle Mayght	Edith Mary Mitchell
BDM Match (90%)	George Searle Wright	Edith Mary Mitchell
	💍 1875/1078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	32 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Rouse Downs Manawatu	Rouse Downs Manawatu
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Church, Foxton
Folio	75/1247
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1875
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J Duncan, Foxton

4 May 1875

George Richardson
Alice Maud Spenster

George Richardson
Alice Maud Wood
💍 1875/1368

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33 years
25 years

Foxton
Foxton Manawatu

3 years
8 years

Church, Otaki or Foxton

75/1441

4 May 1875

The Rev. J McWilliam, Otaki

No	24
Date of Notice	4 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Richardson	Alice Maud Spenster
BDM Match (79%)	George Richardson	Alice Maud Wood
	💍 1875/1368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton Manawatu
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church, Otaki or Foxton
Folio	75/1441
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1875
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J McWilliam, Otaki

11 May 1875

Arthur Richard Eva
Mary Halden Cummerfield

Arthur Richard Eva
Mary Nalder Cummerfield
💍 1875/1080

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

24 years
18 years

Foxton
Foxton

5 Days
18 years

Residence of Mr. Cummerfield, Foxton

75/1249

11 May 1875

The Rev. J Duncan, Foxton

No	25
Date of Notice	11 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Richard Eva	Mary Halden Cummerfield
BDM Match (96%)	Arthur Richard Eva	Mary Nalder Cummerfield
	💍 1875/1080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	5 Days	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Cummerfield, Foxton
Folio	75/1249
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1875
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J Duncan, Foxton

15 June 1875

Alexander John Hadfield
Arabella Robinson

Alexander John Hadfield
Arabella Robinson
💍 1875/1370

Widower
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

31 years
24 years

Otaki
Foxton

2 years
24 years

Church, Otaki

75/1443

15 June 1875

The Rev. J McWilliam, Otaki

No	26
Date of Notice	15 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Hadfield	Arabella Robinson
	💍 1875/1370
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	31 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Foxton
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church, Otaki
Folio	75/1443
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1875
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J McWilliam, Otaki

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).