Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 982

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 September 1875 Registrar Arthur W. Henderson

This page is very damaged and has been separated from the rest of the register.

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

1 July 1875

Hugh Steventon Hunter
Mary Lindsay Wilson

Hugh Stevenson Hunter
Mary Lindsay Wilson
💍 1875/2171

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Department

26
20

Invercargill
Waianawa

8 years
19 years

At the House of Mr John Wilson

75/2240

3 July 1875

Rev. J. A. Laylor

No	65
Date of Notice	1 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Steventon Hunter	Mary Lindsay Wilson
BDM Match (98%)	Hugh Stevenson Hunter	Mary Lindsay Wilson
	💍 1875/2171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Department
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Waianawa
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr John Wilson
Folio	75/2240
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Laylor

3 July 1875

James William Gofton
Rose Bush

James William Gofton
Rose Bush
💍 1875/2115

Bachelor
Widow

Contractor

24
28

Clinton
Clinton

3 years
10 years

At the House of Mr Allen John Son, Clinton

75/2246

3 July 1875

Rev. J. A. Laylor

No	66
Date of Notice	3 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Gofton	Rose Bush
	💍 1875/2115
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Contractor
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Clinton	Clinton
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr Allen John Son, Clinton
Folio	75/2246
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Laylor

9 July 1875

William Walker
Clementina Tulloch

William Walker
Clementina Tulloch
💍 1875/2116

Widower
Widow

Sawmiller

40
32

Clinton
Clinton

8 years
1 year

At the House of Mr Wm Walker, Clinton

75/2247

9 July 1875

Rev. J. A. Laylor

No	67
Date of Notice	9 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walker	Clementina Tulloch
	💍 1875/2116
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Clinton	Clinton
Length of Residence	8 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr Wm Walker, Clinton
Folio	75/2247
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Laylor

16 July 1875

Robert McKay
Catherine McCague

Robert McKay
Catherine McCague
💍 1875/2094

Robert Smith
Catherine McGregor
💍 1876/72

Robert Miller
Catherine Ross
💍 1875/1138

Bachelor
Widow

Settler
House Keeper

50
39

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 years
6 months

At the Church of England, Invercargill

75/2241

16 July 1875

Rev. W.P. Louvel

No	68
Date of Notice	16 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McKay	Catherine McCague
	💍 1875/2094
BDM Match (65%)	Robert Smith	Catherine McGregor
	💍 1876/72
BDM Match (60%)	Robert Miller	Catherine Ross
	💍 1875/1138
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Settler	House Keeper
Age	50	39
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 years	6 months
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Invercargill
Folio	75/2241
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.P. Louvel

24 July 1875

William Lennon
Sarah Hay

William Shattock Jones
Sarah Hay
💍 1875/656

Bachelor
Spinster

Keeper

30
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

8 months
4 months

At the House of H. Lennon, Don St, Invercargill

75/2248

24 July 1875

Rev. J. A. Laylor

No	69
Date of Notice	24 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lennon	Sarah Hay
BDM Match (73%)	William Shattock Jones	Sarah Hay
	💍 1875/656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Keeper
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	8 months	4 months
Marriage Place	At the House of H. Lennon, Don St, Invercargill
Folio	75/2248
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Laylor

5 August 1875

Denis Tobin
Ellie O'Neil

Denis Lohin
Ellen ONeil
💍 1875/2163

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

38
24

Mabel Bush
Mabel Bush

12 years
8 months

At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

75/2233

5 August 1875

Rev. Father Hiffied

No	70
Date of Notice	5 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Tobin	Ellie O'Neil
BDM Match (78%)	Denis Lohin	Ellen ONeil
	💍 1875/2163
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Mabel Bush	Mabel Bush
Length of Residence	12 years	8 months
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	75/2233
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hiffied

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 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).