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 774

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1875 Registrar W. P. Park

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

321

28 April 1875

Philip Parker
Mary Ann Turnbull

Philip Parker
Mary Ann Turnbull
💍 1875/2374

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

29 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
10 years

In St. Joseph's Church

75/1213

Jacob Turnbull, father

28 April 1875

Right Rev. Bishop Moran

No	321
Date of Notice	28 April 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Parker	Mary Ann Turnbull
	💍 1875/2374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	29 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	10 years
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Church
Folio	75/1213
Consent	Jacob Turnbull, father
Date of Certificate	28 April 1875
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Moran

322

13 June 1875

Samuel Browne
Charlotte Chambers

Samuel Browne
Charlotte Chambers
💍 1875/2046

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright

35 years
23 years

Caversham
Caversham

3 days
3 days

In St. Peter's Church

75/12201

13 June 1875

Rev. T. Martin

No	322
Date of Notice	13 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Browne	Charlotte Chambers
	💍 1875/2046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	35 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In St. Peter's Church
Folio	75/12201
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Martin

323

30 August 1875

Frederick Logie
Marion Adela Rance

Frederick Logie
Marian Adela Pearce
💍 1875/1978

Bachelor
Spinster

Mailuru guard

21 years
17 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 years
13 years

In the house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart

75/12108

William Hardon Rance, father

30 August 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	323
Date of Notice	30 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Logie	Marion Adela Rance
BDM Match (89%)	Frederick Logie	Marian Adela Pearce
	💍 1875/1978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mailuru guard
Age	21 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart
Folio	75/12108
Consent	William Hardon Rance, father
Date of Certificate	30 August 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

324

30 August 1875

Frank Francis Richards
Julia Ryan

Frank Francis Richards
Julia Ryan
💍 1875/1984

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
domestic servant

22 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 months
1 year

In the house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart

75/12113

Proper person to give consent

30 August 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	324
Date of Notice	30 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Francis Richards	Julia Ryan
	💍 1875/1984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	domestic servant
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart
Folio	75/12113
Consent	Proper person to give consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

325

31 August 1875

James Patterson
Jane Meldrum

James Paterson
Jane Meldrum
💍 1875/1977

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

34 years
36 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
2 years

In the house of Mr. William Wallace, George Street

75/12109

31 August 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	325
Date of Notice	31 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patterson	Jane Meldrum
BDM Match (97%)	James Paterson	Jane Meldrum
	💍 1875/1977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	34 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. William Wallace, George Street
Folio	75/12109
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

326

31 August 1875

James Briggs
Catharine Smith

John Bryce
Catherine Smith
💍 1875/1669

Widower
Widow

Bricklayer

47 years
42 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
2 years

In the house of James Briggs, Queen Street

75/12109

31 August 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	326
Date of Notice	31 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Briggs	Catharine Smith
BDM Match (63%)	John Bryce	Catherine Smith
	💍 1875/1669
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	47 years	42 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of James Briggs, Queen Street
Folio	75/12109
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 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).