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 578

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
37	23 February 1871	David Hill Mary Ann Alexander	David Hill Mary Ann Alexander 💍 1871/6039	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith	35 Years 22 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	8 Years 5 Years	St Pauls Church	M 11/730		23 February 1871	Rev. Ef. Edwards
38	24 February 1871	Keith Ramsay Janet Torry Douglas	Keith Ramsay Janet Torry Douglas 💍 1871/6135	Bachelor Spinster	Shipping agent	26 Years 19 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	8 Years 13 Years	House of Geo. Douglas Forth St Dunedin	71/762	Caroline Scott Douglas gives consent	24 February 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
39	24 February 1871	John Burgess Mary Jane Moore	John Burgess Mary Jane Moore 💍 1871/6042	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	29 Years 24 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	10 days 6 Weeks	St Pauls Church Dunedin	M 11/731		24 February 1871	Rev. Ef. Edwards
40	28 February 1871	James Donaldson Maria Hannah Sherriff	James Donaldson Marie Hannah 💍 1871/9382 James Donaldson Mary Kane 💍 1871/5718	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith	22 Years 22 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 3 months	House of Rev. D. M. Stuart George St Dunedin	M 11/763		28 February 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
41	2 March 1871	Benjamin Hill Elizabeth Paterson	Benjamin Hill Elizabeth Paterson 💍 1871/6138	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	29 Years 19 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	9 Years 13 Years	House of Clure Cornhill Princes Street Dunedin	M 11/764	Hoperson to give consent	2 March 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
42	8 March 1871	Peter Wetherston Sarah Dale	Peter Wetherston Sarah Dale 💍 1871/6141	Widower Widow	Farmer	full full	Blueskin Road Dunedin	14 Years 3 days	House of Sarah Dale Hanover St Dunedin	M 11/765		8 March 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
43	9 March 1871	Mark Shepherd Bennett Annabella Dawes	Mark Shepherd Bennett Annabella Dawes 💍 1871/6144	Bachelor Widow	Wheelwright	29 Years 32 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	3 Years 18 months	House of W. Roberts Geathing Street Dunedin	M 11/766		9 March 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
44	9 March 1871	James Allouat Barbara Hunter	James Mouat Barbara Hunter 💍 1871/6225	Bachelor Widow	Miner	36 Years 40 Years	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 3 days	Wesleyan Chapel Dunedin	11/794		9 March 1871	Rev. Alex. Reid
45	11 March 1871	William Spiers Jean Sheldon	William Speirs Jane Sheldon 💍 1871/9300	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	36 Years 18 Years	Green Island Green Island	3 days 4 Years	House of James Gray Green Island		William Sheldon father of Jean Sheldon gives consent	11 March 1871	Rev. M. Walt

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).