Intentions to Marry, 1874

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840386, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 721

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1874 Registrar William Parker Street

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

28 January 1874

John Carpendale McKennie
Elizabeth Lucy Reid

John Carpindale McKennie
Elizabeth Lucy Reid
💍 1874/7147

Bachelor
Widow

Cook

31
31

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
3 years

In the house of Mrs. Reid, Cumberland Street, Dunedin

74/430

28 January 1874

Rev. D. M. Stuart

No	36
Date of Notice	28 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carpendale McKennie	Elizabeth Lucy Reid
BDM Match (98%)	John Carpindale McKennie	Elizabeth Lucy Reid
	💍 1874/7147
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cook
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs. Reid, Cumberland Street, Dunedin
Folio	74/430
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Stuart

29 January 1874

James Anthony South
Harriett Clare

James Anthony South
Harriet Clare
💍 1874/7252

Bachelor
Spinster

Comedian

29
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
2 years

In St. Paul's Church, Dunedin

74/467

29 January 1874

Rev. E.G. Edwards

No	37
Date of Notice	29 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Anthony South	Harriett Clare
BDM Match (96%)	James Anthony South	Harriet Clare
	💍 1874/7252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Comedian
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Church, Dunedin
Folio	74/467
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. E.G. Edwards

31 January 1874

Thomas Anderson
Henrietta Anderson

Thomas Anderson
Henrietta Anderson
💍 1874/13246

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 months

In the house of the Revd. John Gow, High Street, Dunedin

74/2522

31 January 1874

Rev. John Gow

No	38
Date of Notice	31 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Anderson	Henrietta Anderson
	💍 1874/13246
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd. John Gow, High Street, Dunedin
Folio	74/2522
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Gow

31 January 1874

Thomas Hamilton
Bridget Reed

Thomas Hamilton
Bridget Reid
💍 1874/7294

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Servant

29
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin

74/482

31 January 1874

Right Rev. Dr. Moran

No	39
Date of Notice	31 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hamilton	Bridget Reed
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Hamilton	Bridget Reid
	💍 1874/7294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Servant
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin
Folio	74/482
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1874
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Dr. Moran

3 February 1874

William Black
Johanna Murphy

Wm Black
Johanna Murphy
💍 1874/7297

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

34
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin

74/483

3 February 1874

Right Rev. Dr. Moran

No	40
Date of Notice	3 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Black	Johanna Murphy
BDM Match (81%)	Wm Black	Johanna Murphy
	💍 1874/7297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin
Folio	74/483
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Dr. Moran

3 February 1874

James Congrave
Sarah Ann Dabble

James Congreve
Sarah Ann Dabble
💍 1874/7150

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

31
35

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
2 years

In the house of Rev. Dr. Stuart, George Street, Dunedin

74/431

3 February 1874

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	41
Date of Notice	3 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Congrave	Sarah Ann Dabble
BDM Match (96%)	James Congreve	Sarah Ann Dabble
	💍 1874/7150
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. Dr. Stuart, George Street, Dunedin
Folio	74/431
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

3 February 1874

Daniel Weir
Hannah Cowan

Daniel Weir
Hannah Cowan
💍 1874/7306

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21
17

Peninsula
Peninsula

2 years
7 years

In the house of Robert Cowan, Sandymont

74/486

Robert Cowan, father

3 February 1874

Revd. A. Greig

No	42
Date of Notice	3 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Weir	Hannah Cowan
	💍 1874/7306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Peninsula	Peninsula
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Robert Cowan, Sandymont
Folio	74/486
Consent	Robert Cowan, father
Date of Certificate	3 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Revd. A. Greig

3 February 1874

David Dackers
Jessie Murdoch

David Dackers
Jessie Murdoch
💍 1874/12772

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

33
33

Green Island
Andersons Bay

10 years
1 year

In the house of Mr. Scott Grants Braes, Anderson's Bay

74/2361

3 February 1874

Rev. J. H. McNaughton

No	43
Date of Notice	3 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Dackers	Jessie Murdoch
	💍 1874/12772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Green Island	Andersons Bay
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Scott Grants Braes, Anderson's Bay
Folio	74/2361
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. McNaughton

4 February 1874

William Adams
Annie Harriett Williams

William Adams
Annie Harriet Williams
💍 1874/7576

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

30
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

74/578

4 February 1874

Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

No	44
Date of Notice	4 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Adams	Annie Harriett Williams
BDM Match (98%)	William Adams	Annie Harriet Williams
	💍 1874/7576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	74/578
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

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

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).