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 940

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 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

12 January 1875

John Ford
Margaret Collins

John Forde
Margaret Hollins
💍 1875/266

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Servant

30
27

Invercargill
Invercargill

6 years
6 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill

75/297

12 January 1875

Rev. Father Carden

No	8
Date of Notice	12 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ford	Margaret Collins
BDM Match (92%)	John Forde	Margaret Hollins
	💍 1875/266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Servant
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Invercargill
Folio	75/297
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Carden

13 January 1875

James Green
Mary Ayre Dowley

James Green
Mary Ann Dowley
💍 1875/56

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

28
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 months
6 months

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

75/58

13 January 1875

Rev. Mr. Williams

No	9
Date of Notice	13 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Green	Mary Ayre Dowley
BDM Match (91%)	James Green	Mary Ann Dowley
	💍 1875/56
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the house of the Rev. J. A. Taylor, Invercargill
Folio	75/58
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Williams

21 January 1875

Louis Anderton
Mary Graham

Louis Anderson
Mary Graham
💍 1875/57

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

30
31

Benmore
Benmore

11 years
3 years

At the house of Mr Adam Little Invercargill

75/59

21 January 1875

Rev. Mr. Williams

No	10
Date of Notice	21 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Anderton	Mary Graham
BDM Match (96%)	Louis Anderson	Mary Graham
	💍 1875/57
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Benmore	Benmore
Length of Residence	11 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr Adam Little Invercargill
Folio	75/59
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Williams

23 January 1875

Richard Blackham
Elizabeth Webb

Richard Blackham
Elizabeth Webb
💍 1875/565

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel-Keeper

30
23

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 months
3 months

At the Church of England, Invercargill

75/569

23 January 1875

Rev W. P. Tanner

No	11
Date of Notice	23 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Blackham	Elizabeth Webb
	💍 1875/565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel-Keeper
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 months	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Invercargill
Folio	75/569
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev W. P. Tanner

25 January 1875

John Sloan
Isabella Gilchrist

John Sloan
Isobella Gilchrist
💍 1875/256

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot maker

38
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

12 years
7 years

At the house of Mr J. Rind, Riverton

75/288

25 January 1875

Rev. Mr. Ross

No	12
Date of Notice	25 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sloan	Isabella Gilchrist
BDM Match (97%)	John Sloan	Isobella Gilchrist
	💍 1875/256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot maker
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	12 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Mr J. Rind, Riverton
Folio	75/288
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Ross

26 January 1875

William Blakie
Isabella Gray

William Blakie
Isabella Gray
💍 1875/3149

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
21

Ryal Bush
Waianawa

12 years
10 years

At the house of MrJames Gray, Waianawa

75/732

26 January 1875

Rev. Mr. Stevens

No	13
Date of Notice	26 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Blakie	Isabella Gray
	💍 1875/3149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Ryal Bush	Waianawa
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At the house of MrJames Gray, Waianawa
Folio	75/732
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Stevens

2 February 1875

John Whiteford
Margaret McCombe

John Whiteford
Margaret McCombe
💍 1875/434

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

36
30

Invercargill
Invercargill

11 years
3 months

At the Office of the Registrar, Invercargill

75/477

2 February 1875

The Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	2 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Whiteford	Margaret McCombe
	💍 1875/434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	11 years	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Office of the Registrar, Invercargill
Folio	75/477
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1875
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

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).