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 744

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 1865

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

131

7 April 1865

John White
Elizabeth Bremner

John White
Elizabeth Bremner
💍 1875/1379

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

34 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
14 years

In the house of James White, Great King Street, Dunedin

75/1457

7 April 1865

Rev. R.L. Stuart

No	131
Date of Notice	7 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John White	Elizabeth Bremner
	💍 1875/1379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	34 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	14 years
Marriage Place	In the house of James White, Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	75/1457
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.L. Stuart

132

8 April 1865

Thomas Kennedy
Johanna Robertson

Thomas Kennedy Douglas
Johanna Robertson
💍 1875/1493

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

27 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 weeks
4 days

In the house of Mr. Reynolds, near Dunedin

75/1561

8 April 1865

Rev. John Gow

No	132
Date of Notice	8 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Kennedy	Johanna Robertson
BDM Match (82%)	Thomas Kennedy Douglas	Johanna Robertson
	💍 1875/1493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	27 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Reynolds, near Dunedin
Folio	75/1561
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Gow

133

8 April 1865

Walter Ibbotson
Martha Sampson

Walter Ibbotson
Martha Sampson
💍 1875/1531

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 months
2 years

St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin

75/1504

person to give no consent

8 April 1865

Rev. E. H. Stacey

No	133
Date of Notice	8 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ibbotson	Martha Sampson
	💍 1875/1531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Dunedin
Folio	75/1504
Consent	person to give no consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Stacey

134

12 April 1865

Hector Reid
Selina Wood Collie

Hector Reid
Eliza Todd Collie
💍 1875/1753

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

37 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 years

In the house of the Rev. Lindsay Mackay

75/1596

12 April 1865

Rev. Lindsay Mackay

No	134
Date of Notice	12 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector Reid	Selina Wood Collie
BDM Match (86%)	Hector Reid	Eliza Todd Collie
	💍 1875/1753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	37 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Lindsay Mackay
Folio	75/1596
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lindsay Mackay

135

12 April 1865

Robert Eugene Marking
Louisa Horsley

Robert Eugene Markby
Louisa Horsley Rowland
💍 1875/306

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

22 years
17 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 month
7 months

In the house of Mary Hood, Hanover Street, Dunedin

75/1341

person to give no consent

12 April 1865

Rev. R. L. Stacey

No	135
Date of Notice	12 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Eugene Marking	Louisa Horsley
BDM Match (75%)	Robert Eugene Markby	Louisa Horsley Rowland
	💍 1875/306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	22 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	7 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mary Hood, Hanover Street, Dunedin
Folio	75/1341
Consent	person to give no consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Stacey

136

12 April 1865

John Fogarity
Hannah Stacia

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 days
7 days

St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin

75/1576

person to give no consent

12 April 1865

Right Rev. Bishop Moran

No	136
Date of Notice	12 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fogarity	Hannah Stacia
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin
Folio	75/1576
Consent	person to give no consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Moran

137

12 April 1865

Thomas Pickering
Emma Susannah Warwick

Thomas Pickering Channon
Emma Susannah Warwick
💍 1875/1516

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

30 years
18 years

Caversham
Caversham

8 months
18 years

St. Paul's Church, Dunedin

75/1490

Olivia Craig, mother

12 April 1865

Rev. E. J. Edwards

No	137
Date of Notice	12 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Pickering	Emma Susannah Warwick
BDM Match (83%)	Thomas Pickering Channon	Emma Susannah Warwick
	💍 1875/1516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	30 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	8 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Dunedin
Folio	75/1490
Consent	Olivia Craig, mother
Date of Certificate	12 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Edwards

138

13 April 1865

John Arthur Orbell
Mary Ann McLiverin

John Arthur Orbell
Mary Ann McGiverin
💍 1875/1416

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

21 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
1 day

St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin

75/1551

13 April 1865

Right Rev. Bishop Moran

No	138
Date of Notice	13 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Orbell	Mary Ann McLiverin
BDM Match (97%)	John Arthur Orbell	Mary Ann McGiverin
	💍 1875/1416
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	21 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	1 day
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Dunedin
Folio	75/1551
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Moran

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).