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 768

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1875

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

285

3 June 1875

Henry Johnson
Ellen Keane

Henry Johnson
Ellen Keane
💍 1875/1645

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder

30
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 months
12 months

In St. Joseph's Church

75/1823

3 June 1875

Rev. Wm Coleman

No	285
Date of Notice	3 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Johnson	Ellen Keane
	💍 1875/1645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Church
Folio	75/1823
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Coleman

286

8 June 1875

John Douglass
Martha Blackwood

John Douglass
Martha Blackwood
💍 1875/1646

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

22
25

Dunedin
Caversham

3 days
16 years

In the house of William Blackwood

75/1824

8 June 1875

Rev. V. W. Davis

No	286
Date of Notice	8 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglass	Martha Blackwood
	💍 1875/1646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Caversham
Length of Residence	3 days	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Blackwood
Folio	75/1824
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. W. Davis

287

12 June 1875

Robert Dixon Kelly
Elizabeth Cranefield

Robert Dyson Kelly
Elizabeth Cranefield
💍 1875/1647

Bachelor
Spinster

Farrier
general Servant

21
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 Days
12 years

In the house of William Cranefield

75/1825

William Cranefield, father

12 June 1875

Rev. Dr Stuart

No	287
Date of Notice	12 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dixon Kelly	Elizabeth Cranefield
BDM Match (94%)	Robert Dyson Kelly	Elizabeth Cranefield
	💍 1875/1647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farrier	general Servant
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 Days	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of William Cranefield
Folio	75/1825
Consent	William Cranefield, father
Date of Certificate	12 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr Stuart

288

21 June 1875

Gilbert Hamilton
Catherine Quin

Gilbert Hamilton
Catherine Quin
💍 1875/1649

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

34
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 months
10 months

In the Church of the Revd Dr Stuart

75/1826

21 June 1875

Rev. Dr Stuart

No	288
Date of Notice	21 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Hamilton	Catherine Quin
	💍 1875/1649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	10 months
Marriage Place	In the Church of the Revd Dr Stuart
Folio	75/1826
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr Stuart

289

24 June 1875

William Howie
Margaret Murdoch

William Howie
Margaret Murdoch
💍 1875/2039

Bachelor
Widow

Fireman
Laundress

37
40

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
13 years

In the house of Revd Dr Stuart

75/2145

24 June 1875

Rev. Dr Stuart

No	289
Date of Notice	24 June 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Howie	Margaret Murdoch
	💍 1875/2039
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fireman	Laundress
Age	37	40
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd Dr Stuart
Folio	75/2145
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr Stuart

290

1 July 1875

Thomas Howorth
Elizabeth Broom

Thomas Howarth
Elizabeth Broom
💍 1875/2055

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

46
35

East Taieri
Green Island

26 years
5 years

In the house of Mr. Allan King

75/2192

1 July 1875

Rev. Michael Watt

No	290
Date of Notice	1 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Howorth	Elizabeth Broom
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Howarth	Elizabeth Broom
	💍 1875/2055
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	East Taieri	Green Island
Length of Residence	26 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Allan King
Folio	75/2192
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Watt

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 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).