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 729

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar William Parker Street

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

25 January 1875

Benjamin Robert Shaw
Caroline Wilkes

Benjamin Robert Shaw
Caroline Wilkes
💍 1875/2436

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

56 years
44 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
13 years

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

75/2521

25 January 1875

Regr. of marriages

No	33
Date of Notice	25 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Robert Shaw	Caroline Wilkes
	💍 1875/2436
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	56 years	44 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	75/2521
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Regr. of marriages

26 January 1875

Robert Wilson
Matilda Edgar

Robert Wilson
Matilda Edgar
💍 1875/173

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

27 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
10 years

In the house of James Edgar George Street Dunedin

75/206

26 January 1875

Revd Dr. Stuart

No	34
Date of Notice	26 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Wilson	Matilda Edgar
	💍 1875/173
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of James Edgar George Street Dunedin
Folio	75/206
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr. Stuart

25 January 1875

Duncan Lennox McFarlane
Ann Bateman

Duncan Lennox McFarlane
Ann Bateman
💍 1875/161

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker
Servant

32 years
25 years

Caversham
Caversham

4 years
6 months

In Knox Church Dunedin

75/217

17 February 1875

Revd Dr. Stuart

No	35
Date of Notice	25 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Lennox McFarlane	Ann Bateman
	💍 1875/161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker	Servant
Age	32 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Caversham
Length of Residence	4 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	75/217
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr. Stuart

35A

26 January 1875

Robert Shand
Emily Alleyn

Robert Shand
Emily Alleyn
💍 1875/172

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

30 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 months
4 months

In the house of Albert Hamann Leith Street Dunedin

75/205

26 January 1875

Revd Dr. Stuart

No	35A
Date of Notice	26 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Shand	Emily Alleyn
	💍 1875/172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	30 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Albert Hamann Leith Street Dunedin
Folio	75/205
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr. Stuart

27 January 1875

Thomas Dreman
Margaret Barr

Thomas Drennan
Margaret Bain
💍 1875/157

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright

30 years
29 years

Mornington
Mornington

12 months
10 days

In the house of William Barr Mornington

75/213

27 January 1875

Revd Dr. Stuart

No	36
Date of Notice	27 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Dreman	Margaret Barr
BDM Match (85%)	Thomas Drennan	Margaret Bain
	💍 1875/157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	30 years	29 years
Dwelling Place	Mornington	Mornington
Length of Residence	12 months	10 days
Marriage Place	In the house of William Barr Mornington
Folio	75/213
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr. Stuart

28 January 1875

John Thomas Jelley
Mary Ann Briggs

John Thomas Jelley
Mary Ann Briggs
💍 1875/154

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

41 years
30 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
2 years

In the house of the said John Thomas Jelley Dunedin

75/210

28 January 1875

Revd Dr. Stuart

No	37
Date of Notice	28 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Jelley	Mary Ann Briggs
	💍 1875/154
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	41 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the said John Thomas Jelley Dunedin
Folio	75/210
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr. Stuart

29 January 1875

Edward Constantine Chilton
Margaretta Edith Eadie

Edward Chilton
Margaret Edith Eddie
💍 1875/175

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

35 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 month
12 months

In the house of Robert Barnes Clarendon Street Dunedin

75/208

No person to give consent

29 January 1875

Revd Dr. Stuart

No	38
Date of Notice	29 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Constantine Chilton	Margaretta Edith Eadie
BDM Match (70%)	Edward Chilton	Margaret Edith Eddie
	💍 1875/175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	35 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 month	12 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Robert Barnes Clarendon Street Dunedin
Folio	75/208
Consent	No person to give consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr. Stuart

29 January 1875

Charles Heresier
Mary Ann Murray

Charles Heresier
Mary Ann Murray
💍 1875/174

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

22 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 months
14 months

In the house of Robert Barnes 12 Clarendon Street Dunedin

75/207

No person to give consent

29 January 1875

Revd Dr Stuart

No	39
Date of Notice	29 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Heresier	Mary Ann Murray
	💍 1875/174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 months	14 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Robert Barnes 12 Clarendon Street Dunedin
Folio	75/207
Consent	No person to give consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1875
Officiating Minister	Revd 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 1908. 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).