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 803

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 December 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

151

23 October 1875

John Brown
Isabella Bartie

John Brown
Isabella Barter
💍 1875/2412

John Brown
Margaret Jane Gibson
💍 1875/1445

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24 years
20 years

George Street, Dunedin
Orange Street, Dunedin

20 days
20 days

At the Residence of the Rev. Dr. Stuart

75/2546

No Parents or Guardian

20 October 1875

Rev. Dr. Stuart

No	151
Date of Notice	23 October 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown	Isabella Bartie
BDM Match (93%)	John Brown	Isabella Barter
	💍 1875/2412
BDM Match (60%)	John Brown	Margaret Jane Gibson
	💍 1875/1445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	George Street, Dunedin	Orange Street, Dunedin
Length of Residence	20 days	20 days
Marriage Place	At the Residence of the Rev. Dr. Stuart
Folio	75/2546
Consent	No Parents or Guardian
Date of Certificate	20 October 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. Stuart

152

20 November 1875

John Walker
Christina Davidson

John Walker
Christina Davidson
💍 1875/3120

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoneman
Domestic Servant

21 years
22 years

Victoria Place, Port Chalmers
Victoria Place, Port Chalmers

2 years
12 days

At the House of Mr. A. K. Salmen

75/3194

19 November 1875

Rev. Mr. Johnstone

No	152
Date of Notice	20 November 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walker	Christina Davidson
	💍 1875/3120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoneman	Domestic Servant
Age	21 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Victoria Place, Port Chalmers	Victoria Place, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	12 days
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. A. K. Salmen
Folio	75/3194
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Johnstone

153

27 December 1875

James William Stephens
Anne McCarthy

James Williams Stephens
Anne McCarthy
💍 1875/2765

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29 years
20 years

Highcliff Terrace, Port Chalmers
George Street, Port Chalmers

7 years
1 year

At Holy Trinity Church

75/2356

No Parents or Guardian in the Colony

27 December 1875

Rev. H. N. Season

No	153
Date of Notice	27 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Stephens	Anne McCarthy
BDM Match (98%)	James Williams Stephens	Anne McCarthy
	💍 1875/2765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Highcliff Terrace, Port Chalmers	George Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	7 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church
Folio	75/2356
Consent	No Parents or Guardian in the Colony
Date of Certificate	27 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Season

154

28 December 1875

James Cadie Denison
Elizabeth Rorell Nelson

James Casho Vinson
Elizabeth Priscilla Wilson
💍 1875/2766

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Servant

24 years
18 years

Grey Road, Port Chalmers
Currie Street, Port Chalmers

10 years
4 years

At the Wesleyan Church

75/2357

John Nelson the Father

28 December 1875

Rev. F. H. Smith

No	154
Date of Notice	28 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cadie Denison	Elizabeth Rorell Nelson
BDM Match (67%)	James Casho Vinson	Elizabeth Priscilla Wilson
	💍 1875/2766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Servant
Age	24 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Grey Road, Port Chalmers	Currie Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Church
Folio	75/2357
Consent	John Nelson the Father
Date of Certificate	28 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Smith

155

29 December 1875

Henry Charles Learis
Mary Ann Collins

Henry Charles Davis
Mary Ann Collins
💍 1876/663

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman
Machinist

24 years
21 years

Grey Street, Port Chalmers
Grey Street, Port Chalmers

Two Weeks
Two Weeks

At the Church of England

75/2358

30 December 1875

Rev. H. N. Season

No	155
Date of Notice	29 December 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Learis	Mary Ann Collins
BDM Match (93%)	Henry Charles Davis	Mary Ann Collins
	💍 1876/663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman	Machinist
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Grey Street, Port Chalmers	Grey Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	Two Weeks	Two Weeks
Marriage Place	At the Church of England
Folio	75/2358
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Season

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).