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 765

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

266

26 July 1875

John Sparks
Kate Brennan

John Sparks
Kate Brennan
💍 1875/1995

Bachelor
Spinster

Tanner

30 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
5 years

In St: Joseph's Church by the Rev: Wm Coleman Dowling Street Dunedin

75/2125

26 July 1875

Rev: Wm Coleman R.C.

No	266
Date of Notice	26 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sparks	Kate Brennan
	💍 1875/1995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tanner
Age	30 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In St: Joseph's Church by the Rev: Wm Coleman Dowling Street Dunedin
Folio	75/2125
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev: Wm Coleman R.C.

267

27 July 1875

George Dryden
Margaret Sparkshore

George Dryden
Margaret Gartshore
💍 1875/2029

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman

24 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 years
18 years

In the House of the Rev: Dr Stuart George Street Dunedin

75/2150

27 July 1875

Rev: Dr Stuart C.S.

No	267
Date of Notice	27 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Dryden	Margaret Sparkshore
BDM Match (92%)	George Dryden	Margaret Gartshore
	💍 1875/2029
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the House of the Rev: Dr Stuart George Street Dunedin
Folio	75/2150
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev: Dr Stuart C.S.

268

28 July 1875

Michael McCowatt
Ellen Malon

Michael McConville
Ellen Malone
💍 1875/1996

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Servant

28 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
1 year

In St. Josephs Church

75/2126

28 July 1875

Rev. Wm Coleman R.C.

No	268
Date of Notice	28 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael McCowatt	Ellen Malon
BDM Match (79%)	Michael McConville	Ellen Malone
	💍 1875/1996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Servant
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Church
Folio	75/2126
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Coleman R.C.

269

28 July 1875

William Henry Kelly
Mary Catherine Quirk

William Henry Kelly
Mary Catherine Quirk
💍 1875/2694

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

22 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
1 year

In "All Saints" Church

75/2196

28 July 1875

Rev. R. L. Stanford Coff

No	269
Date of Notice	28 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Kelly	Mary Catherine Quirk
	💍 1875/2694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	In "All Saints" Church
Folio	75/2196
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Stanford Coff

270

2 August 1875

Patrick Mullany
Ellen Long

Patrick Mullany
Ellen Long
💍 1875/1997

Bachelor
Spinster

Stevedore
general Servant

22 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 days
8 days

In St Joseph's Chapel

75/2127

2 August 1875

Rev. Wm Coleman R.C.

No	270
Date of Notice	2 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Mullany	Ellen Long
	💍 1875/1997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore	general Servant
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 days	8 days
Marriage Place	In St Joseph's Chapel
Folio	75/2127
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Coleman R.C.

271

3 August 1875

Walter Broadly
Emma Jackson

Walter Broadley
Emma Jackson
💍 1875/2364

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

21 years
19 years

Sunnyside
Dunedin

7 months
2 years

In St. Paul's Church

75/2186

Thomas Jackson father

3 August 1875

Rev: T. G. Edwards Coff

No	271
Date of Notice	3 August 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Broadly	Emma Jackson
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Broadley	Emma Jackson
	💍 1875/2364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Sunnyside	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Church
Folio	75/2186
Consent	Thomas Jackson father
Date of Certificate	3 August 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev: T. G. Edwards Coff

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).