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 601

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 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
191	6 November 1871	James Mills Annabella Langlands	James Mills Anabella Langlands 💍 1871/7968	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	24 19	Dunedin Dunedin	21 years 19 years	In the House of William Langlands, Alva Street Dunedin	392	William Langlands, father	6 November 1871	Rev. Dr. Stuart
192	8 November 1871	Thoma Drummond Robina Leslie Livingston Henderson	Thomas Drummond Robina Leslie Livingston Henderson 💍 1871/7773	Bachelor Spinster	Timber Merchant	35 27	Dunedin Dunedin	2 months 4 months	In St Pauls Church	326		8 November 1871	Rev. E.G. Edwards
193	10 November 1871	Robert Kilgour Helen Glen Alexander	Robert Kilgour Helen Glen Alexander 💍 1871/7797	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	37 26	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 15 years	In the House of Mrs. Janet Alexander, Steep Street, Dunedin	334		10 November 1871	Rev. John Gow
194	13 November 1871	George Skene Mary M. Enerney	George Skene Mary McEnerney 💍 1871/6618	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	37 30	Dunedin Dunedin	12 days 12 days	In St Josephs Chapel Dunedin	7939		13 November 1871	Rev. Dr. Moran
195	14 November 1871	Thomas Ennis Jane Blood	Thomas Ennis Jane Blood 💍 1871/6621	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor Dressmaker	28 20	Dunedin Dunedin	4 years 9 years	In St Josephs Church	793	William Blood, Father	14 November 1871	Rev. Dr. Moran
196	15 November 1871	David Davidson Amy Jane M. McConichey	David Davidson Little Amy Jane McConichy 💍 1871/7974	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 19	Dunedin Dunedin	9 years 10 years	In Knox Church	394	Elizabeth McConichey, Mother	15 November 1871	Rev. Dr. Stuart
197	16 November 1871	Henry Thoms Barbara Brown	Henry Thoms Barbara Brown 💍 1871/7971	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman General Servant	24 19	Dunedin Dunedin	10 days 3 months	In the Manse of Rev. Dr. M. Stuart	393	no person to give consent	16 November 1871	Rev. Dr. M. Stuart
198	17 November 1871	William Digby Smith Lucy Maunder	William Digby Smith Lucy Mauder 💍 1871/7785	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	26 22	Dunedin Cavershaw near Dunedin	8½ years 1 year	In St. Pauls Church	330		17 November 1871	Rev. E.G. Edwards

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).