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 772

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1877 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

31 January 1877

William Gibson
Rachel McMillan

William Gibson
Rachel McMillan
💍 1877/579

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

27
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church Dunedin

77/492

no person in Colony to give consent to minor

31 January 1877

Revd Dr Stuart

No	29
Date of Notice	31 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gibson	Rachel McMillan
	💍 1877/579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	77/492
Consent	no person in Colony to give consent to minor
Date of Certificate	31 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

2 February 1877

John Arthur Cameron
Mary Ann Petrie

John Arthur Cameron
Mary Ann Petrie
💍 1877/581

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

36
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In Knox Church Dunedin

77/493

James Petrie father of minor

2 February 1877

Revd Dr Stuart

No	30
Date of Notice	2 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Cameron	Mary Ann Petrie
	💍 1877/581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	77/493
Consent	James Petrie father of minor
Date of Certificate	2 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

5 February 1877

Charles Hoad
Mary Ann O'Reilly

Charles Hoad
Mary Ann O'Reilly
💍 1877/589

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

25
19

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 months

In St. Pauls Church Dunedin

77/478

noperson in colony to give consent to minor

5 February 1877

Revd E.G. Edwards

No	31
Date of Notice	5 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hoad	Mary Ann O'Reilly
	💍 1877/589
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	In St. Pauls Church Dunedin
Folio	77/478
Consent	noperson in colony to give consent to minor
Date of Certificate	5 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd E.G. Edwards

5 February 1877

George Miller Shand
Caroline Mirian Cox

George Mitter Shand
Caroline Miriam Cox
💍 1877/662

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
21

South Dunedin
South Dunedin

10 months
3 days

In the house of George Miller Shand, South Dunedin

77/552

5 February 1877

Revd J Gow

No	32
Date of Notice	5 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Miller Shand	Caroline Mirian Cox
BDM Match (92%)	George Mitter Shand	Caroline Miriam Cox
	💍 1877/662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	South Dunedin	South Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of George Miller Shand, South Dunedin
Folio	77/552
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd J Gow

5 February 1877

Francis James Jeffreys
Elizabeth Jane Loftus Smith

Francis James Jeffreys
Elizabeth Janet Loftus Smith
💍 1877/640

Bachelor
Spinster

Missionary

31
33

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 months

In the house of Alfred William Smith, Castle Street, Dunedin

77/530

5 February 1877

Revd. A Blake

No	33
Date of Notice	5 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Jeffreys	Elizabeth Jane Loftus Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Francis James Jeffreys	Elizabeth Janet Loftus Smith
	💍 1877/640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Missionary
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Alfred William Smith, Castle Street, Dunedin
Folio	77/530
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. A Blake

6 February 1877

James Falconer
Catherine Courtney

James Falconer
Catharine Courtney
💍 1877/582

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

35
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
3 weeks

In Knox Church Dunedin

77/494

6 February 1877

Revd Dr Stuart

No	34
Date of Notice	6 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Falconer	Catherine Courtney
BDM Match (97%)	James Falconer	Catharine Courtney
	💍 1877/582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	77/494
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1877
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).