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 800

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 30 June 1875 Registrar Jno R Monson

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

3 May 1875

Thomas Harrhy
Annie Mathieson

Thomas Harrhy
Annie Mathieson
💍 1875/1956

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

24
21

Sawyers Bay District
Sawyers Bay District

3 mos
3 mos

At the House of the Revd F.W. Isitt, Scotia Street, Port Chalmers

75/2060

3 May 1875

Revd F.W. Isitt

No	15
Date of Notice	3 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harrhy	Annie Mathieson
	💍 1875/1956
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Bay District	Sawyers Bay District
Length of Residence	3 mos	3 mos
Marriage Place	At the House of the Revd F.W. Isitt, Scotia Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	75/2060
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd F.W. Isitt

11 May 1875

George Madigan
Lucy Andrews

George Madigan
Lucy Andrews
💍 1875/1415

Bachelor
Spinster

Waterman
Servant

21
19

Mansford Bay near Port Chalmers
Walker Street, Dunedin

13 yrs
6 mos

At St Matthews, Church, Dunedin

75/1506

Henry Andrews, the Father

11 May 1875

Revd E.G. Penny,

No	16
Date of Notice	11 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Madigan	Lucy Andrews
	💍 1875/1415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waterman	Servant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Mansford Bay near Port Chalmers	Walker Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 yrs	6 mos
Marriage Place	At St Matthews, Church, Dunedin
Folio	75/1506
Consent	Henry Andrews, the Father
Date of Certificate	11 May 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd E.G. Penny,

11 May 1875

James Crisp
Ellen Penny

James Crisp
Ellen Penny
💍 1875/1321

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
16

Currie Street, Port Chalmers
Mary Street, Port Chalmers

6 Weeks
2 Years

At the House of Mr Penny, Mary Street, Port Chalmers

75/1362

Charles Penny, the Father

11 May 1875

Revd Jas. Maxwell,

No	17
Date of Notice	11 May 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Crisp	Ellen Penny
	💍 1875/1321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	16
Dwelling Place	Currie Street, Port Chalmers	Mary Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 Weeks	2 Years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr Penny, Mary Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	75/1362
Consent	Charles Penny, the Father
Date of Certificate	11 May 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Jas. Maxwell,

9 June 1875

Edward Reuben Bolton
Maria Knott

Edward Reuben Bolton
Maria Knott
💍 1875/1957

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican

38
35

Beach Street, Port Chalmers
Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers

2 yrs
1 month

At the House of Mr Wm Bolton, Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers

75/2061

9 June 1875

Revd F.W. Isitt

No	18
Date of Notice	9 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Reuben Bolton	Maria Knott
	💍 1875/1957
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Beach Street, Port Chalmers	Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 yrs	1 month
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr Wm Bolton, Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Folio	75/2061
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd F.W. Isitt

21 June 1875

James Muir Cameron
Grace Elizabeth McKinnon

James Muir Cameron
Grace McKinnon
💍 1875/1322

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

23
22

George Street, Port Chalmers
Harrington Street, Port Chalmers

4 yrs
4 yrs

At the House of Mr G. McKinnon, Harrington Street

75/1363

21 June 1875

Revd James Maxwell

No	19
Date of Notice	21 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Muir Cameron	Grace Elizabeth McKinnon
BDM Match (79%)	James Muir Cameron	Grace McKinnon
	💍 1875/1322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	George Street, Port Chalmers	Harrington Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 yrs	4 yrs
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr G. McKinnon, Harrington Street
Folio	75/1363
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd James Maxwell

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).