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 345

District of Waipukurau Quarter ending 30 June 1875

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
121	9 April 1875	Henry Laundy Isabella Gildore	Henry Laundy Isabella Gilmore 💍 1875/992	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Nil	34 years 38 years	Waipukurau Waipukurau	4 months 18 months	In the Methodist Free Church, Waipawa	75/921	9 April 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa
122	14 April 1875	John Anderson Mary Elizabeth Miller	Lois Brown Mary Elizabeth Miller 💍 1875/2737	Widower Widow	Labourer Nil	46 years 40 years	Te Aute Te Aute	8 months 5 years	In the church at Te Aute	75/1169	14 April 1875	Rev. Samuel Williams, Te Aute
123	15 April 1875	James Todd Rachael Duval	Stephen James Hodd Rachel Duval 💍 1875/1003	Bachelor Widow	Farmer Nil	34 years 22 years	Patangata Patangata	10 years 2 months	In the house of David [illegible], Patangata	75/1169	15 April 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa
124	10 May 1875	Antonio Lentz Maria Jane Williams	Antonie Leutz Maria Jane Williams 💍 1875/1010	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	26 years 21 years	Waipawa Waipawa	2 months 6 weeks	In the house of Francis Anderson, Waipawa	75/1847	10 May 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa
125	14 May 1875	William Hall Mary Martin	William Hall Mary Martin 💍 1875/1011	Widower Widow	Farmer Nil	46 years 31 years	Ruataniwha Ruataniwha	6 years 6 weeks	In the house of William Hall, Ruataniwha	75/1924	14 May 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa
126	21 May 1875	Martin Collett Mary Ann Batten	Martin Collet Mary Ann Catts 💍 1875/3136	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	25 years 22 years	Waipawa Waipawa	5 years 18 days	In the school house, Waipukurau	75/1930	21 May 1875	Rev. John Charles Eccles, Waipukurau
127	21 May 1875	Alexander Todd Annie Mary Arrow	Alexander Todd Annie Mary Arrow 💍 1875/1016	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon Nil	34 years 24 years	Waipawa Waipawa	12 years 8 years	In the house of Henry [illegible], Waipawa	75/1929	21 May 1875	Rev. John Charles Eccles, Waipukurau
128	4 June 1875	Henry Thomas Ware Eliza Woodwell	Henry Thomas Ware Elizabeth Cordwell 💍 1875/1012	Widower Spinster	Sawyer Domestic Servant	34 years 22 years	Waipawa Waipawa	11 days 6 months	In the house of Alexander [illegible], Waipawa	75/1928	4 June 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa
129	8 June 1875	Alexander Christenson Elizabeth Susan Boowen	Alexander Christenson Elizabeth Susan Boorer 💍 1875/1013	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	24 years 19 years	Kaikora Kaikora	8 months 1 year	In the house of John [illegible], Kaikora	75/1927	8 June 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa
130	12 June 1875	William Anderson Carolina Sternberg	William Anderson Caroline Stenberg 💍 1875/1014 William Anderson Isabella Lowe 💍 1875/1068 William Anderson Andirina Thomson 💍 1876/695	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	35 years 26 years	Waipawa Waipawa	4 months 13 days	In the house of Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa	75/1848	12 June 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Waipawa
131	23 June 1875	James McAlpine Rose Victoria Walton	James McAlpine Rose Victoria Whalton 💍 1875/1015	Bachelor Widow	Bushman Domestic Servant	35 years 26 years	Hampden Hampden	2 months 6 months	In the United Methodist Free Church, Hampden	75/1926	23 June 1875	Rev. Joseph White, Hampden

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).