Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 576

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1871

No	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
19	30 January 1871	Thomas Evans Pepperell Janet Bowie Draper	Thomas Evans Pepperell Janet Bowie Draper 💍 1871/6114	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	26 Years 25 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	9 months 7 Years	Knox Church	M 71/755		30 January 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
20	30 January 1871	John Davies Elizabeth Griffishe	John Davies Elizabeth Griffiths 💍 1871/6576	Widower Spinster	Miner	48 Years 36 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 3 days	The Baptist Chapel King St Dunedin	M 71/915		30 January 1871	Rev. D. Williams
21	1 February 1871	Charles Brodie Cooper Hannah Sullivan	Charles Brodie Cooper Hannah Sullivan 💍 1871/6171	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	26 Years 24 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	6 Years 4 Years	St Joseph's Church Dunedin	M 71/776		1 February 1871	Rev. D. Moreau
22	3 February 1871	Robert Lucash McLennan Jane Samson Sprott	Robert Lucas McLenahan Jane Samson Sprott 💍 1871/6126	Widower Widow	Clerk	32 Years 30 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	4 Years 6 Years	House of Mrs Sprott Castle St Dunedin	M 71/759		3 February 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
23	3 February 1871	William McDonald Elizabeth Hood	William MacDonald Elizabeth Hood 💍 1871/6120	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 Years 26 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	7 Years 14 days	House of Mrs Lawrie Dowling St Dunedin	M 71/757		3 February 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
24	6 February 1871	George Calder Margaret Walker	George Calder Margaret Walker 💍 1871/6123	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer	30 Years 18 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	6 Years 8 Years	House of Mr Peter Walker Castle Street Dunedin	M 71/758	Peter Walker Father & Margaret Walker gives consent	6 February 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
25	6 February 1871	George Morrison Barr Mary Oliver	George M Barr Mary Oliver 💍 1871/6246	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	33 Years 18 Years	Dunedin Brooklyn Wakari	4 Years 2 Years	House of Thomas Oliver Brooklyn Wakari	M 71/802	Thomas Oliver Father & Mary Oliver gives consent	6 February 1871	Rev. W. Alves
26	6 February 1871	Charles Crofton Boyes Jessie Driver	Charles Croften Boyes Jessie Driver 💍 1871/6036	Bachelor Widow	Runholder	31 Years 22 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	1 Week 2 Years	St Pauls Church Dunedin	M 71/729		6 February 1871	Rev. E. G. Edwards
27	7 February 1871	William Hussey Davidson Frances Rose Lloyd	William Hussey Davidson Frances Rose Lloyd 💍 1871/6183	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	35 Years 20 Years	Palmerston Green Island	2 Years 20 Years	House of George Lloyd Green Island	M 71/780		7 February 1871	Rev. L. H. Stanley

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).