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 966

District of Riverton Quarter ending 31 December 1875 Registrar Benj Bailey

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

170

18 October 1875

Charles McKenzie
Margaret Allen Graham

Charles McKenzie
Margaret Allen Graham
💍 1875/2480

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
20

Flints Bush
Flints Bush

11
10

Residence of Mr Graham Flints Bush

75/2670

William Graham Flints Bush Father

18 October 1875

Rev C S Ross Riverton

No	170
Date of Notice	18 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McKenzie	Margaret Allen Graham
	💍 1875/2480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Flints Bush	Flints Bush
Length of Residence	11	10
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Graham Flints Bush
Folio	75/2670
Consent	William Graham Flints Bush Father
Date of Certificate	18 October 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev C S Ross Riverton

171

23 October 1875

James F. Leader
Evangeline Tuson

James Francis Leader
Evangeline Tuson
💍 1875/2601

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Overseer
Lady

25
20

Waiau
Gummies Bush

25 years
3 years

School House Gummies Bush

75/2586

Arthur B Tuson Gummies Bush Father

23 October 1875

Rev W F Oldham

No	171
Date of Notice	23 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James F. Leader	Evangeline Tuson
BDM Match (85%)	James Francis Leader	Evangeline Tuson
	💍 1875/2601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Overseer	Lady
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Waiau	Gummies Bush
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	School House Gummies Bush
Folio	75/2586
Consent	Arthur B Tuson Gummies Bush Father
Date of Certificate	23 October 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev W F Oldham

172

13 November 1875

Richard Condon
Elizabeth Malloy

Richard Condon
Eliza Molloy
💍 1875/3139

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

39
23

Otautau Riverton
Gropers Bush

10 months
18 months

Odd Fellow Hall Riverton

75/2585

13 November 1875

Rev. Father Higgins

No	172
Date of Notice	13 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Condon	Elizabeth Malloy
BDM Match (84%)	Richard Condon	Eliza Molloy
	💍 1875/3139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	39	23
Dwelling Place	Otautau Riverton	Gropers Bush
Length of Residence	10 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Odd Fellow Hall Riverton
Folio	75/2585
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Higgins

173

22 November 1875

George Officer
Jeanie Russell Yule Allison

George Officer
Jeanie Russel Yuile Allison
💍 1875/2577

Bachelor
Spinster

Flour Miller
Farmers Daughter

31
20

Gummies Bush Flour mill
Grange near Gummies Bush

7 years
12 years

Residence of Mr Allison The Grange Farm

75/2603

John Allison of Grange Farm father

22 November 1875

Rev. C S Ross

No	173
Date of Notice	22 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Officer	Jeanie Russell Yule Allison
BDM Match (96%)	George Officer	Jeanie Russel Yuile Allison
	💍 1875/2577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flour Miller	Farmers Daughter
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Gummies Bush Flour mill	Grange near Gummies Bush
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Allison The Grange Farm
Folio	75/2603
Consent	John Allison of Grange Farm father
Date of Certificate	22 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. C S Ross

174

20 December 1875

Frank Henderson
Jane Rowles

Frank Henderson
Jane Elizabeth Rowles
💍 1875/2602

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Lady

33
22

Riverton
Riverton

7 years
12 years

Episcopal Church Riverton

75/2587

20 December 1875

Rev W F Oldham

No	174
Date of Notice	20 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Henderson	Jane Rowles
BDM Match (76%)	Frank Henderson	Jane Elizabeth Rowles
	💍 1875/2602
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Lady
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Episcopal Church Riverton
Folio	75/2587
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev W F Oldham

175

27 December 1875

William Norrie Barclay
Helen Ross

William Norrie Barclay
Helen Ross
💍 1876/597

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk to sawmill
Domestic Servant

28
26

Riverton
Riverton

3 yrs
1 year

Residence of Mr J. L. McDonald Riverton

76/680

27 December 1875

Rev. C S Ross

No	175
Date of Notice	27 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Norrie Barclay	Helen Ross
	💍 1876/597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk to sawmill	Domestic Servant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Riverton
Length of Residence	3 yrs	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. L. McDonald Riverton
Folio	76/680
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. C S Ross

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 1908. 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).