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 399

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1875 Registrar Cyrus Goulter

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

18 October 1875

Humphrey Henry Batchelor
Mary Halvey

Humphrey O Leary
Mary Falvey
💍 1875/2670

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

24 years
22 years

Awaters
Blenheim

11 months
18 months

Catholic Church, Blenheim

75/2843

18 October 1875

Rev. A. M. Sawyeau

No	25
Date of Notice	18 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphrey Henry Batchelor	Mary Halvey
BDM Match (68%)	Humphrey O Leary	Mary Falvey
	💍 1875/2670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Awaters	Blenheim
Length of Residence	11 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	75/2843
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Sawyeau

27 October 1875

Robert Anderson
Frances Ann Pullman

Robert Anderson
Frances Ann Pullman
💍 1875/2838

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

24 years
26 years

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar, Wairau

75/3068

29 October 1875

Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages

No	26
Date of Notice	27 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Anderson	Frances Ann Pullman
	💍 1875/2838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	24 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Wairau
Folio	75/3068
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages

30 October 1875

James Fraser
Elizabeth Smith

James Fraser
Elizabeth Smith
💍 1875/2650

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

21 years
24 years

Blenheim
Blenheim

1 year
1 year

House of Rev. W. Sherriff

75/2839

30 October 1875

Rev. W. Sherriff

No	27
Date of Notice	30 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fraser	Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1875/2650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	21 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. Sherriff
Folio	75/2839
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Sherriff

4 November 1875

Thomas Newman
Jane Morrison

Thomas Newman
Jane Morrison
💍 1875/2669

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer
Domestic Servant

24 years
27 years

Spring Creek
Omaka

18 months
3 months

House of John Ross, Omaka

75/2842

4 November 1875

Rev. G. S. Harper

No	28
Date of Notice	4 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Newman	Jane Morrison
	💍 1875/2669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	24 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Spring Creek	Omaka
Length of Residence	18 months	3 months
Marriage Place	House of John Ross, Omaka
Folio	75/2842
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. S. Harper

19 November 1875

Martin Healy
Margaret Stuart

Martin Healy
Margaret Stewart Tait
💍 1875/2661

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Servant

28 years
21 years

Blenheim
Blenheim

4 years
2 years

House of James Dait

75/2840

19 November 1875

Rev. W. Sherriff

No	29
Date of Notice	19 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Healy	Margaret Stuart
BDM Match (83%)	Martin Healy	Margaret Stewart Tait
	💍 1875/2661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Servant
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of James Dait
Folio	75/2840
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Sherriff

13 December 1875

Charles Frederick Thompson
Caroline Small

Charles Frederick Thompson
Caroline Small
💍 1875/2668

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

28 years
21 years

Grovetown
Grovetown

17 years
2 months

Dozers Store, Tua Marina

75/2841

13 December 1875

Rev. W. Sherriff

No	30
Date of Notice	13 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Thompson	Caroline Small
	💍 1875/2668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Grovetown	Grovetown
Length of Residence	17 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Dozers Store, Tua Marina
Folio	75/2841
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Sherriff

14 December 1875

Edmund Eccles
Fanny Cecilia Redwood

Edmund Eccles
Frances Cecilia Bedwood
💍 1875/2671

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Broker

45 years
30 years

Blenheim
Wairau West

7 years
4 years

Catholic Church, Blenheim

75/2844

14 December 1875

Rev. A. M. Sawyeau

No	31
Date of Notice	14 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Eccles	Fanny Cecilia Redwood
BDM Match (89%)	Edmund Eccles	Frances Cecilia Bedwood
	💍 1875/2671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Broker
Age	45 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Wairau West
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	75/2844
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Sawyeau

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).