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 724

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1874

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

20 February 1874

Robert Hardie
Jane Hay

Robert Hardie
Jane Hay
💍 1874/14154

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

34
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of John Meredith, Leith Street, Dunedin

74/443

20 February 1874

Rev Dr Stuart

No	63
Date of Notice	20 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hardie	Jane Hay
	💍 1874/14154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of John Meredith, Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	74/443
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Stuart

20 February 1874

Gregory Nicholas
Grace Isles

Gregory Nicholas
Grace Isles
💍 1874/7183

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

See below

20 February 1874

Registrar of Marriages

No	64
Date of Notice	20 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gregory Nicholas	Grace Isles
	💍 1874/7183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	See below
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

20 February 1874

Gregory Nicholas
Grace Isles

Gregory Nicholas
Grace Isles
💍 1874/7183

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

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

74/442

20 February 1874

Rev Dr Stuart

No	65
Date of Notice	20 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gregory Nicholas	Grace Isles
	💍 1874/7183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev Dr Stuart, George Street, Dunedin
Folio	74/442
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Stuart

24 February 1874

George Williams
Elizabeth Macbeath

George Williams
Elizabeth MacBeath
💍 1874/7255

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

41
41

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 weeks
4 months

In the house of the Rev Mr Edwards, Stuart St, Dunedin

74/468

24 February 1874

Rev E.G. Edwards

No	66
Date of Notice	24 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Williams	Elizabeth Macbeath
BDM Match (97%)	George Williams	Elizabeth MacBeath
	💍 1874/7255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 weeks	4 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev Mr Edwards, Stuart St, Dunedin
Folio	74/468
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev E.G. Edwards

25 February 1874

George Bates
Jane Pemberton

George Bates
Jane Pemberton
💍 1874/7186

Bachelor
Widow

Sailor

21
34

Broad Bay
Broad Bay

2 months
8 years

In Knox Church, Dunedin

74/444

25 February 1874

Rev Dr Stuart

No	67
Date of Notice	25 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bates	Jane Pemberton
	💍 1874/7186
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sailor
Age	21	34
Dwelling Place	Broad Bay	Broad Bay
Length of Residence	2 months	8 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	74/444
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Stuart

27 February 1874

Frederick Ralph Wilson
Mary Ellen Barr

Frederick Ralph Wilson
Mary Ellen Barr
💍 1874/7243

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk

26
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
10 years

In the house of Mr Areli Ban, London Street, Dunedin

74/464

27 February 1874

Rev. T. Roseby

No	68
Date of Notice	27 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ralph Wilson	Mary Ellen Barr
	💍 1874/7243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Areli Ban, London Street, Dunedin
Folio	74/464
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Roseby

28 February 1874

Peter Wilson
Margaret Stuart Lusher

Peter Wilson
Margaret Stuart Lusher
💍 1874/7189

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

40
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church, Dunedin

74/445

28 February 1874

Rev Dr Stuart

No	69
Date of Notice	28 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Wilson	Margaret Stuart Lusher
	💍 1874/7189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	74/445
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Stuart

28 February 1874

William Johnston
Ann Taylor

William Johnston
Anne Taylor
💍 1874/7276

Bachelor
Widow

Miner

27
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of the Rev Dr. Copeland, Cumberland Street, Dunedin

74/476

28 February 1874

Rev Dr Copeland

No	70
Date of Notice	28 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnston	Ann Taylor
BDM Match (95%)	William Johnston	Anne Taylor
	💍 1874/7276
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev Dr. Copeland, Cumberland Street, Dunedin
Folio	74/476
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Copeland

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).