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 797

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1875 Registrar John Robert Monson

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

1 January 1875

Robert Gunn
Elizabeth Wallace

Robert Gunn
Elizabeth Wallace
💍 1875/355

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Servant

29
22

Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Mount Street, Port Chalmers

3 days
3 days

At the Registrar's Office Port Chalmers

75/395

4 January 1875

J. R. Monson, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gunn	Elizabeth Wallace
	💍 1875/355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Servant
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Mount Street, Port Chalmers	Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Registrar's Office Port Chalmers
Folio	75/395
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1875
Officiating Minister	J. R. Monson, Registrar

1 February 1875

John Duckett
Mary Hannah Williams

John Duckett
Mary Hannah Williams
💍 1875/568

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker
Laundrymaid

34
23

Hamilton Bay, Lower Harbour
Hamilton Bay, Lower Harbour

1 year
2 years

At the Church of England Port Chalmers

75/668

1 February 1875

Rev. W. N. Leeson

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Duckett	Mary Hannah Williams
	💍 1875/568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Laundrymaid
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton Bay, Lower Harbour	Hamilton Bay, Lower Harbour
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Church of England Port Chalmers
Folio	75/668
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. N. Leeson

10 February 1875

Thomas Butchart
Mary Alice Brebner

Thomas Butchart
Mary Alice Brebner
💍 1875/510

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Station Master

34
25

Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers

4 days
10 years

At the House of Mr Thos Brebner Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers

75/553

10 February 1875

Rev. F. W. Isitt

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Butchart	Mary Alice Brebner
	💍 1875/510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station Master
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Mount Street, Port Chalmers	Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr Thos Brebner Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	75/553
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Isitt

19 February 1875

Richard Norman
Margaret Kinsella

Richard Norman
Margaret Kinsella
💍 1875/512

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Dressmaker

21
19

Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers

5 days
4 days

At the House of Mr Hands Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers

75/556

None in the Colony

19 February 1875

Rev. F. W. Isitt

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Norman	Margaret Kinsella
	💍 1875/512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Dressmaker
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers	Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	5 days	4 days
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr Hands Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	75/556
Consent	None in the Colony
Date of Certificate	19 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Isitt

24 February 1875

Charles Jacobson
Matilda Lind

Charles Jacobson
Matilda Lind
💍 1875/128

Bachelor
Spinster

Lighterman

30
20

Careys Bay, Port Chalmers
Canongate Street, Dunedin

3 years
17 years

At the House of Mrs Lind, Canongate Street, Dunedin

75/125

Mrs Lind, the mother

24 February 1875

Rev. C. W. Rigg

No	5
Date of Notice	24 February 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Jacobson	Matilda Lind
	💍 1875/128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lighterman
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Careys Bay, Port Chalmers	Canongate Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mrs Lind, Canongate Street, Dunedin
Folio	75/125
Consent	Mrs Lind, the mother
Date of Certificate	24 February 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Rigg

5 March 1875

Andrew Moir
Mary Maxwell

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Widow

Master Mariner
Milliner

34
35

Barque Cezarewitch, Railway Pier
George Street, Port Chalmers

7 days
3 years

At the House of Mr A. McKinnon [unclear] Terrace Port Chalrs.

75/144

5 March 1875

Rev. James Maxwell

No	6
Date of Notice	5 March 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Moir	Mary Maxwell
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Master Mariner	Milliner
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Barque Cezarewitch, Railway Pier	George Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	7 days	3 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr A. McKinnon [unclear] Terrace Port Chalrs.
Folio	75/144
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell

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).