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 786

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1876 Registrar A R 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

12 January 1876

James Barrowman
Hannah Blane

James Barrowman
Hannah Blane
💍 1876/626

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

33 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 weeks
6 years

In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart, George Street Dunedin

76/559

12 January 1876

Revd Dr Stuart

No	18
Date of Notice	12 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Barrowman	Hannah Blane
	💍 1876/626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	33 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 weeks	6 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart, George Street Dunedin
Folio	76/559
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

13 January 1876

Richard Edward Tobe Stone
Ellen Ennis

Richard Edward Jobe Stone
Ellen Ennis
💍 1876/625

Bachelor
Spinster

Inspector of Roads

40 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 weeks
12 months

In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart George Street Dunedin

13 January 1876

Revd Dr Stuart

No	19
Date of Notice	13 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edward Tobe Stone	Ellen Ennis
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Edward Jobe Stone	Ellen Ennis
	💍 1876/625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Inspector of Roads
Age	40 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 weeks	12 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart George Street Dunedin
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

14 January 1876

George Tulk
Lizzey Dennes

George Tulk
Lizzy Denis
💍 1876/546

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder
Servant

24 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
2 years

In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart Dunedin

76/561

14 January 1876

Revd Dr Stuart

No	20
Date of Notice	14 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Tulk	Lizzey Dennes
BDM Match (88%)	George Tulk	Lizzy Denis
	💍 1876/546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder	Servant
Age	24 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart Dunedin
Folio	76/561
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

18 January 1876

Henry Roberts Clark
Hellena Cawston

Henry Roberts Clark
Helena Cawston
💍 1876/553

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Housemaid

31 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
4 years

In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart, George Street Dunedin

76/562

18 January 1876

Revd Dr Stuart

No	21
Date of Notice	18 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Roberts Clark	Hellena Cawston
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Roberts Clark	Helena Cawston
	💍 1876/553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Housemaid
Age	31 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd Dr Stuart, George Street Dunedin
Folio	76/562
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

18 January 1876

Benno Newman
Laura Beaver

Benno Newman
Laura Beaver
💍 1876/1073

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

34 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
5 years

In the house of Benno Newman, Stafford Street Dunedin

76/737

18 January 1876

Revd B Lichtenstein

No	22
Date of Notice	18 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benno Newman	Laura Beaver
	💍 1876/1073
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	34 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Benno Newman, Stafford Street Dunedin
Folio	76/737
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd B Lichtenstein

21 January 1876

Robert Hyslop
Jane Crocket Shaw

Robert Hyslop
Jane Crockett Shaw
💍 1876/554

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

36 years
19 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Robert K Murray, Rattray Street Dunedin

76/563

William Ireland Shaw, the father

21 January 1876

Revd Dr Stuart

No	23
Date of Notice	21 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hyslop	Jane Crocket Shaw
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Hyslop	Jane Crockett Shaw
	💍 1876/554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	36 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Robert K Murray, Rattray Street Dunedin
Folio	76/563
Consent	William Ireland Shaw, the father
Date of Certificate	21 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

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 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).