Intentions to Marry, 1873

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840385, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 763

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1874

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
228	11 October 1873	George McLadyen Mary Matthew	George McFadyen Mary Mathew 💍 1873/8743 George Raven Mary Dale 💍 1873/11260	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	30 22	Anderson Bay Dunedin	12 months 22 years	In the home of Thomas Matthew, McLaggan Street	73/1336		October 1873	Rev. D. Stuart
232	21 October 1873	Alfred Maling Margaret Willcocks	Alfred Malley Margaret Willcocks 💍 1873/10489	Bachelor Spinster	Bricklayer Servant	30 29	Bushey Bay Bushey Bay	1 year 11 days	St Paul's Church	73/1933		October 1873	Rev. B. G. Edwards
235	24 October 1873	Alexander Rodquist Mary Roeburn	Alexander Waltquist Mary Raeburn 💍 1873/8689	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	38 16	Peninsula Peninsula	2 years 4 years	In the house of Rev. R. Rigg, Moray Place	73/1318	Mother of Mary Robson	October 1873	Rev. R. Rigg
240	28 October 1873	Frank Parting Jessie Cottle	Frank Larking Jessie Cottle 💍 1873/8626	Bachelor Spinster	Bookbinder Servant	26 21	Forbury Pt. Chalmers Road	6 months 5 years	Inch George Cottle's home, now Upper Junction Road	73/1295		October 1873	Rev. J. Roseby
250	8 November 1873	George Hendric Amos Eliza Barrett	George Hendrie Amos Elizabeth Barrett 💍 1874/9517	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	34 17	Caversham Caversham	2 months 1 week	St. Joseph's Church Dunedin	Not married 73/1242	Michael Barrett, father of Eliza Barrett	8 November 1873	Rev. H. Coleman
251	11 November 1873	William Henry Macy Henrietta Stimson	William Henry Macey Henrietta Simpson 💍 1873/9829	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	24 21	Blenheim Dunedin	8 years 9 months	In the home of H. R. Chacum	73/1767		November 1873	Rev. H. R. Butt
259	19 November 1873	Robert Macdonald Margaret Stewart	Robert MacDonald Margaret Mowat 💍 1873/8605	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	21 19	Mornington Mornington	3 years 4 years	Christian Meeting House, St. King Street	73/1288		November 1873	Mr. J. H. Bates
275	13 December 1873	John Hoddern Barr Janet Miller	John Haddin Barr Janet Miller 💍 1873/10507	Widower Spinster	Salesman	44 18	Kaitorai Hill Jimmy Side	4 years 10 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin	73/1939		December 1873	Mr. Parker Street, Reg. Marr.
276	15 December 1873	Paul Leyden Annie Metcalfe	Paul Leyden Annie Metcalfe 💍 1874/11455	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	25 23	Forbury Anderson's Bay	3 months 1 year	In the House of Paul Leyden	74/1905		December 1873	Rev. J. McNaughton
285	20 December 1873	John McTaggart Christina McPheit	John McTaggart Christina McPhail 💍 1873/8809 John McTaggart Christina McPhail 💍 1873/11446	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic	26 21	Lawrence Dunedin	2 years 5 years	In the Home of Duncan McGregor	73/1221		December 1873	Rev. J. H. Cameron

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).