Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 828

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 187 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

327

31 October 1877

Anthony Francis
Julia Corcoran

Anthony Francis
Julia Corcoran
💍 1877/2819

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
Domestic Servant

30
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
2 years

In St. Josephs Chapel Dunedin

77/2805

31 October 1877

Revd T. Crowley

No	327
Date of Notice	31 October 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Francis	Julia Corcoran
	💍 1877/2819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Domestic Servant
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Chapel Dunedin
Folio	77/2805
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd T. Crowley

328

31 October 1877

Frederick Scott Aldred
Charlotte Elizabeth Newbury

Frederick Scott Aldred
Charlotte Elizabeth Newbury
💍 1877/2763

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

22
17

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 months
3 years

In the house of the Revd Dr Roseby Dunedin

77/2754

Philip James Newbury father of minor

31 October 1877

Revd Dr Roseby

No	328
Date of Notice	31 October 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Scott Aldred	Charlotte Elizabeth Newbury
	💍 1877/2763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd Dr Roseby Dunedin
Folio	77/2754
Consent	Philip James Newbury father of minor
Date of Certificate	31 October 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Roseby

329

31 October 1877

Alfred Scrivener
Anne Louisa Symon

Alfred Scrivener
Anne Louisa Symon
💍 1877/2795

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

29
39

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
6 days

In the house of John Brown, Stafford Street, Dunedin

77/2780

31 October 1877

Revd Dr Stuart

No	329
Date of Notice	31 October 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Scrivener	Anne Louisa Symon
	💍 1877/2795
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	29	39
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	In the house of John Brown, Stafford Street, Dunedin
Folio	77/2780
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

330

2 November 1877

Alexander Galloway
Josephine Reyling

Alexander Galloway
Josephine Reyling
💍 1877/2796

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

31
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of Joseph William Wain, Queen Street, Dunedin

77/2781

2 November 1877

Revd Dr Stuart

No	330
Date of Notice	2 November 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Galloway	Josephine Reyling
	💍 1877/2796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Joseph William Wain, Queen Street, Dunedin
Folio	77/2781
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

331

2 November 1877

Henry Towle Seager
Rose Eugene Brindley

Henry Fowle Seager
Rose Eugenie Brindley
💍 1877/2754

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

24
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
3 years

In St. Matthews Church Dunedin

77/2763

2 November 1877

Revd C. J. Byng

No	331
Date of Notice	2 November 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Towle Seager	Rose Eugene Brindley
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Fowle Seager	Rose Eugenie Brindley
	💍 1877/2754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In St. Matthews Church Dunedin
Folio	77/2763
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd C. J. Byng

332

2 November 1877

Joel Barnett Lewis
Amy Peck

Joel Barnett Lewis
Amy Peck
💍 1877/2816

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

34
27

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
2 months

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

77/2824

2 November 1877

A R Ure Registrar of Marriages

No	332
Date of Notice	2 November 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joel Barnett Lewis	Amy Peck
	💍 1877/2816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	2 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	77/2824
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1877
Officiating Minister	A R Ure Registrar of Marriages

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).