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 764

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1875 Registrar W. H. Mansford

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

259

21 July 1875

Nathan Orton
Mary Magannon

Nathan Orton
Mary Magannon
💍 1875/2695

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern maker
Domestic Servant

22 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 months
13 months

In All Saints Church

75/2197

21 July 1875

Rev. P. S. Stanford

No	259
Date of Notice	21 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathan Orton	Mary Magannon
	💍 1875/2695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern maker	Domestic Servant
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 months	13 months
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church
Folio	75/2197
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. S. Stanford

260

21 July 1875

David McIntyre
Rebecca Murcott

David McIntyre
Rebecca Murcott
💍 1875/2023

Bachelor
Widow

Cellerman
Inn keeper

29 years
39 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
10 years

At Mrs Murcott's house, the Adelaide Hotel, in Hanover Street

75/2153

21 July 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	260
Date of Notice	21 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McIntyre	Rebecca Murcott
	💍 1875/2023
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cellerman	Inn keeper
Age	29 years	39 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	At Mrs Murcott's house, the Adelaide Hotel, in Hanover Street
Folio	75/2153
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

261

22 July 1875

James Mitchell
Mary Ann Abbott

James Mitchell
Margaret Abbott
💍 1875/2032

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

27 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
10 months

In the private house of the said James Mitchell, Claremount Street, Dunedin

75/2161

no person to give consent

22 July 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	261
Date of Notice	22 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mitchell	Mary Ann Abbott
BDM Match (83%)	James Mitchell	Margaret Abbott
	💍 1875/2032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	In the private house of the said James Mitchell, Claremount Street, Dunedin
Folio	75/2161
Consent	no person to give consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

262

23 July 1875

Charles Cornish
Elizabeth McGregor

Charles Cornish
Elizabeth McGregor
💍 1875/2018

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28 years
21 years

Dunedin
East Taieri

3 years
3 months

In the house of the Right Rev Dr. Moran, Rathray St. Dunedin

75/2124

23 July 1875

Rev. Wm. Coleman

No	262
Date of Notice	23 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Cornish	Elizabeth McGregor
	💍 1875/2018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	East Taieri
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Right Rev Dr. Moran, Rathray St. Dunedin
Folio	75/2124
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Coleman

263

26 July 1875

David Taylor
Elizabeth Rose

David Taylor
Elizabeth Rose
💍 1875/2026

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

28 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
2 years

In the dwelling house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart, George St. Dunedin

75/2126

26 July 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	263
Date of Notice	26 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Taylor	Elizabeth Rose
	💍 1875/2026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	28 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart, George St. Dunedin
Folio	75/2126
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

264

26 July 1875

James Archibold
Catherine Walker Roger

James Archibald
Catherine Walker Roger
💍 1875/3205

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

35 years
27 years

Peninsula
Peninsula

3 days
3 days

In the house of Mrs Isabella Roger, Peninsula

75/3018

26 July 1875

Rev. Alexr. Greig

No	264
Date of Notice	26 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Archibold	Catherine Walker Roger
BDM Match (97%)	James Archibald	Catherine Walker Roger
	💍 1875/3205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	35 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Peninsula	Peninsula
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Isabella Roger, Peninsula
Folio	75/3018
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexr. Greig

265

26 July 1875

Henry Edwin Rock
Alice Horne

Henry Edwin Rock
Alice Horne
💍 1875/2028

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker
Machinist

30 years
24 years

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

2 years
5 months

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

75/2138

26 July 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	265
Date of Notice	26 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edwin Rock	Alice Horne
	💍 1875/2028
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Machinist
Age	30 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	2 years	5 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Dr. Stuart, George Street, Dunedin
Folio	75/2138
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

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).