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 269

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar R. C. Hammerton

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

13 February 1875

Thomas Cook
Martha Green

Thomas Cox
Martha Green
💍 1875/406

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Servant

24
22

Wellington
Wellington

7 mos
7 mos

Registrar's Office, Wellington

75/448

15 February 1875

R. C. Hammerton

No	43
Date of Notice	13 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Cook	Martha Green
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Cox	Martha Green
	💍 1875/406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 mos	7 mos
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	75/448
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1875
Officiating Minister	R. C. Hammerton

16 February 1875

Walter Isaac Nathan
Amelia Joseph

Walter Isaac Nathan
Amelia Joseph
💍 1875/664

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
d: Jacob Joseph, Wellington, , Merchant

29
17

Wellington
Wellington

6 weeks
8 yrs

House of Jacob Joseph, Wellington

75/792

Jacob Joseph, Father

D. M. Isaacs

No	44
Date of Notice	16 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Isaac Nathan	Amelia Joseph
	💍 1875/664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	d: Jacob Joseph, Wellington, , Merchant
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	8 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Jacob Joseph, Wellington
Folio	75/792
Consent	Jacob Joseph, Father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	D. M. Isaacs

22 February 1875

Henry Alexander
Sarah Elizabeth Lonsdale

Henry Alexander
Sarah Elizabeth Lansdale
💍 1875/2999

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Schoolmistress

35
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 mos
6 days

St Pauls Church, Thorndon

75/349

22 February 1875

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	45
Date of Notice	22 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alexander	Sarah Elizabeth Lonsdale
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Alexander	Sarah Elizabeth Lansdale
	💍 1875/2999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Schoolmistress
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 mos	6 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Thorndon
Folio	75/349
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

22 February 1875

Walter Macklin
Elizabeth Robertson

Walter Macklin
Elizabeth Robertson
💍 1875/152

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
d: David Robertson, Sydney Street, Gardener

21
22

Wellington
Wellington

12 mos
18 yrs

House of David Robertson, Sydney Street

75/133

22 February 1875

Rev. R. Ward

No	46
Date of Notice	22 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Macklin	Elizabeth Robertson
	💍 1875/152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	d: David Robertson, Sydney Street, Gardener
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 mos	18 yrs
Marriage Place	House of David Robertson, Sydney Street
Folio	75/133
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ward

22 February 1875

John Wood
Mary Ann Dick

Tom Wood
Mary Ann Dick
💍 1875/751

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
d: David Dick, Wainuiomata, Sheep Farmer

23
22

Wainuiomata
Wainuiomata

19 yrs
22 yrs

Wesleyan Chapel, Wainuiomata

75/589

22 February 1875

J. B. Richardson

No	47
Date of Notice	22 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wood	Mary Ann Dick
BDM Match (83%)	Tom Wood	Mary Ann Dick
	💍 1875/751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	d: David Dick, Wainuiomata, Sheep Farmer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wainuiomata	Wainuiomata
Length of Residence	19 yrs	22 yrs
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel, Wainuiomata
Folio	75/589
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1875
Officiating Minister	J. B. Richardson

24 February 1875

Matthew William Merrygold
Amelia Corlina Alexandra Fransen

Matthew William Merrygold
Amelia Corlina Alexander Fransen
💍 1875/101

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Servant

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

over 13 mos
18 mos

Wesleyan Church, Manners Street

75/157

24 February 1875

Rev. W. Morley

No	48
Date of Notice	24 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew William Merrygold	Amelia Corlina Alexandra Fransen
BDM Match (97%)	Matthew William Merrygold	Amelia Corlina Alexander Fransen
	💍 1875/101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Servant
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	over 13 mos	18 mos
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Manners Street
Folio	75/157
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Morley

27 February 1875

Charles Avery
Jane Hirst

Charles Avery
June Hirst
💍 1875/740

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
d: late S. Hirst, Hutt, Carpenter

23
19

Hutt
Hutt

23 yrs
19 yrs

House of Rev. J. Moir

75/602

Mary Dew, Mother

27 February 1875

Rev. J. Moir

No	49
Date of Notice	27 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Avery	Jane Hirst
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Avery	June Hirst
	💍 1875/740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	d: late S. Hirst, Hutt, Carpenter
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	23 yrs	19 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Moir
Folio	75/602
Consent	Mary Dew, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Moir

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).