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 923

District of Cromwell Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar Geo. Fenwick

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

5 January 1875

James Leishman
Hanah Christie

Jamie Leishman
Hannah Christy
💍 1875/684

Widower
Widow

Miner

59 years
44 years

Quartz Reef Point
Lowburn

5 years
1 week

at the Residence of Mr. John Perrieau Lowburn

75/881

5 January 1875

The Revd. Benjn. Drake

No	71
Date of Notice	5 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Leishman	Hanah Christie
BDM Match (82%)	Jamie Leishman	Hannah Christy
	💍 1875/684
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	59 years	44 years
Dwelling Place	Quartz Reef Point	Lowburn
Length of Residence	5 years	1 week
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. John Perrieau Lowburn
Folio	75/881
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1875
Officiating Minister	The Revd. Benjn. Drake

18 January 1875

Harry William Jobbin
Mary Ann Carline

Harry William Joblin
Mary Ann Carline
💍 1875/214

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

28 years
18 years

Roaring Camp
on the Dunstan Road near Cromwell

3 years
1 year

In the Church of England Clyde

75/889

Benjn. Carline, Father near Cromwell

23 January 1875

The Revd. Joshua Jones

No	72
Date of Notice	18 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry William Jobbin	Mary Ann Carline
BDM Match (98%)	Harry William Joblin	Mary Ann Carline
	💍 1875/214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	28 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Roaring Camp	on the Dunstan Road near Cromwell
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Clyde
Folio	75/889
Consent	Benjn. Carline, Father near Cromwell
Date of Certificate	23 January 1875
Officiating Minister	The Revd. Joshua Jones

22 January 1875

William Sutherland
Sophia Gordon

William Sutherland
Sophia Gordon
💍 1875/685

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

34 years
21 years

Quartzville
Cromwell

3 years
2 months

at the Residence of Mr. John Marsh Cromwell

75/889

22 January 1875

The Revd. Benjn. Drake

No	73
Date of Notice	22 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sutherland	Sophia Gordon
	💍 1875/685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	34 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Quartzville	Cromwell
Length of Residence	3 years	2 months
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. John Marsh Cromwell
Folio	75/889
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1875
Officiating Minister	The Revd. Benjn. Drake

9 February 1875

David Murley
Ann Box

David Murley
Ann Box
💍 1875/385

Widower
Widow

Hotel Keeper

41 years
40 years

Kawaran Gorge
Kawaran Gorge

7 years
7 years

at the Registrar's Office Cromwell

75/402

9 February 1875

Geo. Fenwick Registrar

No	74
Date of Notice	9 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Murley	Ann Box
	💍 1875/385
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Hotel Keeper
Age	41 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	Kawaran Gorge	Kawaran Gorge
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	at the Registrar's Office Cromwell
Folio	75/402
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Geo. Fenwick Registrar

22 February 1875

Alfred Price
Elizabeth Power

Alfred Pinn
Elizabeth Power
💍 1875/686

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright

35 years
14 years 6 months

Pembroke
Pembroke

5 years
6 months

at the Residence of Mr. Theodore Rupell Pembroke

75/90

Relations or Guardians in the Colony

22 February 1875

The Revd. Benjn. Drake

No	75
Date of Notice	22 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Price	Elizabeth Power
BDM Match (88%)	Alfred Pinn	Elizabeth Power
	💍 1875/686
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright
Age	35 years	14 years 6 months
Dwelling Place	Pembroke	Pembroke
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. Theodore Rupell Pembroke
Folio	75/90
Consent	Relations or Guardians in the Colony
Date of Certificate	22 February 1875
Officiating Minister	The Revd. Benjn. Drake

23 March 1875

Jerome Honor
Honoria Coine

Jerome O'Conor
Honoria Coine
💍 1875/386

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

25 years
21 years

Cromwell
Cromwell

4 years
6 months

at the Registrar's Office Cromwell

75/403

24 March 1875

Geo. Fenwick Registrar

No	76
Date of Notice	23 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jerome Honor	Honoria Coine
BDM Match (89%)	Jerome O'Conor	Honoria Coine
	💍 1875/386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	25 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Cromwell	Cromwell
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	at the Registrar's Office Cromwell
Folio	75/403
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Geo. Fenwick Registrar

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).