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 595

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
152	25 August 1871	Mathew Coxon Fanny Farrell	Matthew Coxon Fanny Farrell 💍 1871/7761	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	33 20	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 1 month	St Pauls Church	722	25 August 1871	Rev. E. G. Edwards
153	26 August 1871	John Macfarlane Julia Lehen	John Macfarlane Julia Lehane 💍 1871/9327	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher	28 24	Port Chalmers Dunedin	18 months 6 years	In the House of W. Hayes	321	26 August 1871	Rev. John Williams
154	28 August 1871	Henry Graham Isabella Laughlin	Henry Graham Isabella Loughlin 💍 1871/7818	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	32 21	Dunedin Dunedin	14 days 4 days	In Watsons Royal Hotel	341	28 August 1871	Rev. George Sutherland
155	28 August 1871	Andrew Toal Mary Ann McWheren	Andrew Toal Mary Ann McIlheson 💍 1871/9168	Bachelor Spinster	Jailor	30 28	Dunedin Dunedin	3½ years 7 days	In the House of Dr Moran		28 August 1871	Right Rev. P. Moran
156	31 August 1871	George Legget Janet Kirkwood	George Leggat Janet Kirkwood 💍 1871/7938	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	37 27	Dunedin Dunedin	9 days 10 days	In Knox Church	382	31 August 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
157	4 September 1871	Peter McKenzie Christina Cadzow	Peter McKenzie Christina Cadzow 💍 1871/7746	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Saleswoman	28 23	Andersons Bay Andersons Bay	18 months 12 months	In the Bay Horse Hotel	314	4 September 1871	Rev. J. H. McNaughton
158	5 September 1871	Thomas Dent Elizabeth Sutherland	Thomas Dent Elizabeth Sutherland 💍 1871/7941	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 25	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 14 days	In Knox Church	383	5 September 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart
159	5 September 1871	Peter Garrow Elizabeth Ellis	Peter Garrow Elizabeth Ellis 💍 1871/7944	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant Hospital Nurse	28 28	Dunedin Dunedin	5 days 2 years	In Knox Church	384	5 September 1871	Rev. D. M. Stuart

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).