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 775

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

327

3 September 1875

Joseph Burnett Moir
Isabella Fraser Sind

Joseph Burnett Moir
Isabella Frazer Lind
💍 1875/2019

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Servant

25 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 years
17 years

In the Wesleyan Church

75/2110

3 September 1875

Rev. Chas. Higg

No	327
Date of Notice	3 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Burnett Moir	Isabella Fraser Sind
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Burnett Moir	Isabella Frazer Lind
	💍 1875/2019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Servant
Age	25 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church
Folio	75/2110
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Chas. Higg

328

3 September 1875

David Carry
Helen Kria Clark

David Carey
Helen Reid Clark
💍 1875/1981

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper

26 years
19 years

Blueskin
Blueskin

7 years
12 years

In "Knox" Church

75/2110

Archibald Clark, Father

3 September 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	328
Date of Notice	3 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Carry	Helen Kria Clark
BDM Match (86%)	David Carey	Helen Reid Clark
	💍 1875/1981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Blueskin	Blueskin
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In "Knox" Church
Folio	75/2110
Consent	Archibald Clark, Father
Date of Certificate	3 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

329

3 September 1875

John Stercus
Marjory Alice Dick

John Hercus
Marjory Alice Dick
💍 1875/2310

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

11 years
12 years

In the house of Mr. John Dick, Royal Terrace

75/2493

3 September 1875

Rev. John Gow

No	329
Date of Notice	3 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stercus	Marjory Alice Dick
BDM Match (92%)	John Hercus	Marjory Alice Dick
	💍 1875/2310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. John Dick, Royal Terrace
Folio	75/2493
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Gow

330

3 September 1875

John Cook
Mary Lindsay

John Cook
Mary Lindsay
💍 1875/2309

Bachelor
Widow

Cook
Laundress

27 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
6 years

In the house of the Rev. John Gow

75/2492

3 September 1875

Rev. John Gow

No	330
Date of Notice	3 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cook	Mary Lindsay
	💍 1875/2309
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cook	Laundress
Age	27 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. John Gow
Folio	75/2492
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Gow

331

6 September 1875

Thomas Hancock Osborn
Sarah Osborn Jennings

Thomas Hancock
Sarah Osborne Jennings
💍 1875/2367

Widower
Spinster

Licensed Victualler

39 years
17 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

13 years
13 weeks

In St. Paul's Church

75/2189

John Hocking Jennings, father

6 September 1875

Rev. John George Edwards

No	331
Date of Notice	6 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hancock Osborn	Sarah Osborn Jennings
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Hancock	Sarah Osborne Jennings
	💍 1875/2367
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Licensed Victualler
Age	39 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	13 years	13 weeks
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Church
Folio	75/2189
Consent	John Hocking Jennings, father
Date of Certificate	6 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. John George Edwards

332

6 September 1875

George Morris Adam
Ellen Adams

George Morris
Ellen Adam
💍 1875/2358

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
General Servant

23 years
21 years

Peninsula
Peninsula

17 years
6 months

In the house of Thomas Morris, Anderson's Bay

75/2181

6 September 1875

Rev. Va. M. Naughton

No	332
Date of Notice	6 September 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Morris Adam	Ellen Adams
BDM Match (82%)	George Morris	Ellen Adam
	💍 1875/2358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	General Servant
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Peninsula	Peninsula
Length of Residence	17 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Morris, Anderson's Bay
Folio	75/2181
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Va. M. Naughton

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).