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 948

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 30 June 1875 Registrar Arthur C Henderson

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

5-2

9 June 1875

Gustav Deiley
Mary Sheppard

Gustav Deiley
Mary Sheppard
💍 1875/1211

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker

32
17

Invercargill
Invercargill

5 years
11 months

At the house of Gustav Deiley, Spey Street, Invercargill

75/1259

Emily Sheppard Mother

9 June 1875

Rev. Mr. J. A. Taylor

No	5-2
Date of Notice	9 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustav Deiley	Mary Sheppard
	💍 1875/1211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker
Age	32	17
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	5 years	11 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Gustav Deiley, Spey Street, Invercargill
Folio	75/1259
Consent	Emily Sheppard Mother
Date of Certificate	9 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. J. A. Taylor

5-3

10 June 1875

James Thompson
Mary Dewe

James Thompson
Mary Dewe
💍 1875/1109

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Servant

25
17

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 months
14 months

At the house of Henry Dewe, Invercargill

75/1209

Henry Dewe, Father

10 June 1875

Rev. Mr. Dean

No	5-3
Date of Notice	10 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Thompson	Mary Dewe
	💍 1875/1109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Servant
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 months	14 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Henry Dewe, Invercargill
Folio	75/1209
Consent	Henry Dewe, Father
Date of Certificate	10 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Dean

5-4

10 June 1875

Andrew McKenzie
Margaret Scollard

Andrew McKenzie
Margaret Scollard
💍 1875/1190

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Dressmaker

38
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

13 years
2 months

At the house of Andrew McKenzie, Invercargill

75/1262

10 June 1875

Rev. J. A. Taylor

No	5-4
Date of Notice	10 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew McKenzie	Margaret Scollard
	💍 1875/1190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Dressmaker
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	13 years	2 months
Marriage Place	At the house of Andrew McKenzie, Invercargill
Folio	75/1262
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Taylor

5-5

11 June 1875

John Petchell
Jessie Murchie

John Petchell
Jessie Murchie
💍 1875/1031

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

30
21

Riverton
Invercargill

1 year
3 days

At the office of the Registrar, Invercargill

75/1200

11 June 1875

The Registrar

No	5-5
Date of Notice	11 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Petchell	Jessie Murchie
	💍 1875/1031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Riverton	Invercargill
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	At the office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	75/1200
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1875
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

5-7

14 June 1875

William Frederick Clark
Margaret Young

William Frederick Clark
Margaret Young
💍 1875/1194

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

31
29

Hokonui
Invercargill

3 years
4 years

At the house of J. S. Hamilton, Baker, Invercargill

75/1266

14 June 1875

Rev. J. A. Taylor

No	5-7
Date of Notice	14 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Frederick Clark	Margaret Young
	💍 1875/1194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Hokonui	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the house of J. S. Hamilton, Baker, Invercargill
Folio	75/1266
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Taylor

5-8

14 June 1875

William Andrews
Mary Wilson

William Andrews
Mary Wilson
💍 1875/1189

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

22
19

Invercargill
Invercargill

9 years
4 years

At the house of the Rev. J. A. Taylor Invercargill

75/1261

David Roche, Guardian

14 June 1875

Rev. J. A Taylor

No	5-8
Date of Notice	14 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Andrews	Mary Wilson
	💍 1875/1189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the house of the Rev. J. A. Taylor Invercargill
Folio	75/1261
Consent	David Roche, Guardian
Date of Certificate	14 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A Taylor

12 June 1875

James Charles Booth
Mary Hinson Wright

James Charles Booth
Mary Hinson Wright
💍 1875/1188

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

23
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

15 months
10 months

At the Wesleyan Church, Invercargill

75/1260

12 June 1875

Rev. J. A. Tayler

No	56
Date of Notice	12 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles Booth	Mary Hinson Wright
	💍 1875/1188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	15 months	10 months
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Church, Invercargill
Folio	75/1260
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Tayler

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).