Intentions to Marry, 1858

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840370, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 13 2024

Page 171

District of Otago Quarter ending 30th of September 1858

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
25	July 2nd 1858	Andrew Iulson Eliza Jones	Andrew Wilson Eliza Jones 💍 1858/1414	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	28 22	Dunedin do	3 years do	In the Episcopal Church Dunedin	July 2nd 1858	Revd John Albert Fenton Dunedin
26	July 3rd 1858	Knowles King Margaret Tarzakerly	Knowles King Margaret Fazakerley 💍 1858/1417	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	25 18	Moeraki Moeraki	6 months 6 months	In the Episcopal Church Dunedin	July 3rd 1858	Revd John Albert Fenton Dunedin
27	July 7th 1858	Arthur Brown Elane *Winston Brown	Arthur Brown Jane Winton 💍 1858/1381	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 21	Portobello do	2 years 10 years	At the residence of William Johnston Port Chalmers	July 9th 1858	Revd William Johnston Port Chalmers
28	July 19th 1858	Henry France Helen Anderson	Henry France Helen Anderson 💍 1858/1357	Bachelor Spinster	Store Keeper	34 21	Oamaru Blueskin	6 years 9 years	At the residence of John Anderson Blueskin	July 19th 1858	Do
29	July 20th 1858	James Penothratt Agnes Lambert	James Denchrass Agnes Lambert 💍 1858/1444	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	25 21	Dunedin Dunedin	2 months 2 months	At the office of the Registrar Dunedin	July 20th 1858	The Registrar Dunedin
30	July 21st 1858	William Davy Mary Bowler	William Davy Mary Bowler 💍 1858/1423	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	25 25	Invercargill Dunedin	12 years 3 days	do	July 21st 1858	Do
31	July 22nd 1858	George Albert Bince Laura Rosina Logie	George Robert Bruce Boeham Benney Laura Rosina Logie 💍 1858/1420	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	38 23	Halfway Bush Dunedin	8 years 3 years	At the Episcopal Church Dunedin	July 22nd 1858	Revd John Albert Fenton Dunedin
32	July 24th 1858	John Solomon Mary Scott	John Solomon Mary Scott 💍 1858/1462	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Green Island Bush do	6 months 6 months	At the residence of Mr Scott Green Island Bush	July 30th 1858	Revd Thomas Burns Dunedin
33	July 30th 1858	Francis Gregory Goring Wilhelmina Peterson	Francis Gregory Laing Wilhelmina Peterson 💍 1858/1470	Bachelor Spinster	Stock owner	24 19	Halfway Bush Anderson's Bay	9 years 8 years	At the School House Anderson's Bay	July 30th 1858	Do
34	August 9th 1858	Alexander Chalmers Elizabeth Bathwick	Alexander Chalmers Elizabeth Borthwick 💍 1858/1465	Widower Spinster	Stock owner	43 35	Halfway Bush do	10 years 4 months	At the residence of Mr Chalmers Halfway Bush	August 10th 1858	Do
35	August 13th 1858	William Thomson Catherine Torrance	William Thomson Catherine Torrance 💍 1858/1467	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	28 25	Dunedin do	2 years 4 years	At the residence of Mr Williamson Dunedin	August 13th 1858	Do
36	September 9th 1858	Robert Miller Mary Young	Robert Millar Mary Young 💍 1858/1399	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	[UNCLEAR] 26	Waikouaiti do	[UNCLEAR] 9 months	At the residence of Robert Miller Waikouaiti	September 9th 1858	Revd William Bannerman Anther
37	September 10th 1858	Thomas Corbet de Lacy Frances Mary Bolden	Thomas Corbet de Lacy Frances Mary Bolden 💍 1858/1051	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	37 years full age	Upper Harbour do	6 years do	At the Episcopal Church Dunedin	September 29th 1858	Revd John Albert Fenton
38			"Certificate not issued"
39	September 17th 1858	John Turnbull Thomson Jane Williamson	John Turnbull Thomson Jane Williamson 💍 1858/1473	Bachelor Spinster	Chief Surveyor	37 23	Dunedin Kaikorai Bank	2 years 10 1/2 years	At the residence of Mr Williamson Kaikorai Bank	September 17th 1858	Revd Thomas Burns

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).