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 778

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1875 Registrar Marriott

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

345

15 September 1875

Walter Buchannan Ramsay
Kate Mallock

Walter Buchannan Ramsay
Kate Mallock
💍 1875/1986

Bachelor
Widow

Express Proprietor

33 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
7 days

In the house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart, George Street, Dunedin

75/2115

15 September 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	345
Date of Notice	15 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Buchannan Ramsay	Kate Mallock
	💍 1875/1986
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Express Proprietor
Age	33 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	7 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart, George Street, Dunedin
Folio	75/2115
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

346

16 September 1875

William Stewart
Jane Kenton

William Stewart
Jane Renton
💍 1875/3119

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

19 years
15 years

Blueskin
Blueskin

11 years
9 years

In the house of John Stewart, Blueskin

75/13193

John Stewart, father; Isabella Kenton, mother

16 September 1875

Rev. Wm. Johnston

No	346
Date of Notice	16 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stewart	Jane Kenton
BDM Match (95%)	William Stewart	Jane Renton
	💍 1875/3119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	19 years	15 years
Dwelling Place	Blueskin	Blueskin
Length of Residence	11 years	9 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Stewart, Blueskin
Folio	75/13193
Consent	John Stewart, father; Isabella Kenton, mother
Date of Certificate	16 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Johnston

347

17 September 1875

William Rutherford the younger
Helen Rule Wilson

William Rutherford
Helen Rule Wilson
💍 1875/1970

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

20 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
5 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

75/2100

William Rutherford, father; Andrew S. Wilson, father

17 September 1875

Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

No	347
Date of Notice	17 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rutherford the younger	Helen Rule Wilson
BDM Match (80%)	William Rutherford	Helen Rule Wilson
	💍 1875/1970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	20 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	75/2100
Consent	William Rutherford, father; Andrew S. Wilson, father
Date of Certificate	17 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

348

18 September 1875

George Thomson
Elizabeth Susan Hayward Mann

George Thomson
Elizabeth S H Mann
💍 1875/2375

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

46 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 years

In the house of Thomas Mann, Moray Place, Dunedin

75/2124

18 September 1875

Rev. Dr. Copland

No	348
Date of Notice	18 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomson	Elizabeth Susan Hayward Mann
BDM Match (82%)	George Thomson	Elizabeth S H Mann
	💍 1875/2375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	46 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Mann, Moray Place, Dunedin
Folio	75/2124
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Copland

349

18 September 1875

Neil Brown
Jessie Aitken

Neil Brown
Jessie Aitken
💍 1875/2012

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

36 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
6 months

In the house of William Hipwell, Stuart Street, Dunedin

75/2118

18 September 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	349
Date of Notice	18 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil Brown	Jessie Aitken
	💍 1875/2012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	36 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of William Hipwell, Stuart Street, Dunedin
Folio	75/2118
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

350

20 September 1875

John McRae
Margaret McKenzie

John McRae
Margaret McKenzie
💍 1875/2005

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

33 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 days
8 days

In Knox Church, Dunedin

75/2119

20 September 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	350
Date of Notice	20 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McRae	Margaret McKenzie
	💍 1875/2005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	33 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 days	8 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio	75/2119
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).