Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 0801

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1876 Registrar Archibald Reid Ure

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

105

25 March 1876

Charles Anderson
Margaret O'Connell

Charles Anderson
Margaret O'Connell
💍 1876/682

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Servant

26 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

11 months
11 months

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

76/635

25 March 1876

A R Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	105
Date of Notice	25 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Anderson	Margaret O'Connell
	💍 1876/682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Servant
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 months	11 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	76/635
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1876
Officiating Minister	A R Ure, Registrar of Marriages

106

27 March 1876

John Simes
Elizabeth Ashe

John Sims
Elizabeth Ashe
💍 1876/578

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

38 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 days
6 months

In the House of Hugh Devine, Hanover Street Dunedin

76/612

27 March 1876

Revd E G Edwards, CofE

No	106
Date of Notice	27 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Simes	Elizabeth Ashe
BDM Match (95%)	John Sims	Elizabeth Ashe
	💍 1876/578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	38 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 days	6 months
Marriage Place	In the House of Hugh Devine, Hanover Street Dunedin
Folio	76/612
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd E G Edwards, CofE

107

27 March 1876

Herman Henrickson
Johanna Matilda Plew

Herman Henricksen
Johanna Matilda Plew
💍 1876/783

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

39 years
34 years

Pine Hill
Dunedin

7 years
2 years

In the House of John Knock, Melville Lane Dunedin

76/594

27 March 1876

Revd Dr Stuart,

No	107
Date of Notice	27 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Henrickson	Johanna Matilda Plew
BDM Match (97%)	Herman Henricksen	Johanna Matilda Plew
	💍 1876/783
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	39 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Pine Hill	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the House of John Knock, Melville Lane Dunedin
Folio	76/594
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart,

108

27 March 1876

Peter Christensen Henrickson
Victoria Teresa Grant

Peter Christensen Henricksen
Victoria Teresa Grant
💍 1876/806

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33 years
23 years

Pine Hill
Pine Hill

7 years
3 years

In the House of John Knock, Melville Lane Dunedin

76/593

27 March 1876

Revd Dr Stuart,

No	108
Date of Notice	27 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Christensen Henrickson	Victoria Teresa Grant
BDM Match (98%)	Peter Christensen Henricksen	Victoria Teresa Grant
	💍 1876/806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Pine Hill	Pine Hill
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the House of John Knock, Melville Lane Dunedin
Folio	76/593
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart,

109

28 March 1876

William Henry Matthews
Zephirine Le Blond

William Henry Matthews
Ziphirine Le Blond
💍 1876/784

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Servant

36 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 months
3 weeks

In the House of Henry Hicks, Leith Street Dunedin

76/595

No person in Colony to give consent

28 March 1876

Revd Dr Stuart,

No	109
Date of Notice	28 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Matthews	Zephirine Le Blond
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Matthews	Ziphirine Le Blond
	💍 1876/784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Servant
Age	36 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the House of Henry Hicks, Leith Street Dunedin
Folio	76/595
Consent	No person in Colony to give consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1876
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).