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 173

District of CeAago Quarter ending 31 December 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
38	15 September 1858	John Roger Mary Brown	John Rodger Mary Brown 💍 1858/1479	Widower Spinster	Labourer	41 27	Upper Heavon Dunedin	4 months 4 months	at the residence of George benawford London Street	5 October 1858	The Rev. Thomas Burns
39			"in last return"
40	22	John lexammond Margaret Sounneys	John Cramond Margaret Souness 💍 1858/1476	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	20 19	Dunedin do	9 years 9 years	at the residence of Iap sounces Dent Dunedin	15	The Rev. Thomas Burns
41	October	Frederick Low Jeffcoat Diana Howarth	Frederick Lowe Jeffcoat Diana Howorth 💍 1858/1426	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	37 36	Green Island west do	6 years 6 years	at the residence of Mr James Howarth Green Island (west		The Rev. Wyatt
42		Edwin Francis Rich Elilya Raura Richardson	Edwin Francis Rich Eliza Laura Richardson 💍 1858/1366	Bachelor Spinster	stockowner	28 19	Inturan South lelutha	4 years 2 years	at the residence of Mr Richardson		The Rev. Wm Bannerman
43		Robert Dodds Ipabella allan	Robert Dodds Isabella Allan 💍 1858/1447	Bachelor Spinster	halourer	25 23	East Taieri	3 years 31/2 years	at the Registrars office Dunedin	13	Robert le hahman Registrar
44		Dancan McFarlane Grace Johnston	Duncan McFarlane Grace Johnston 💍 1858/1482	Bachelor Spinster	Gargenter	23 24	Dunedin	3 months 3 months	arthereadence.of Duncan Mc Farlana Denivin		Rev. Thomas Burns Dundin
45	November 8	Charles James Goodall agues Kay	Charles James Goodall Agnes Kay 💍 1858/1429	Bachelor Spinster	Bullock Driver	21 22	leaversham Dunedin	10 years 10 months	In the longlish church Demedin	8	Rev.
46		Charles Duncan Margaret Smoddan	Charles Duncan Margaret Snoddan 💍 1858/1043	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	23 21	Dunedin do	I month I month	at the office of the Registrar Dumedim	20	Robert le hahman Dunedin
47	December 4	Iosigh Swan Charlotte Brebner	Joseph Swan Charlotte Brebner 💍 1858/1378	Bachelor Spinster	Shippersright	23 26	Dumedin do	I months 4 years	In the English church Dumodin	18	Rev. Wyatt
48		William Baskett Mary Brebner	William Baskett Mary Brebner 💍 1858/1432	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	24 24	Dunedin do	L years 3 years	In the lenglish church Dumedin		Rev. Wyatt
49			"Certificate not issued"
50	December 25	Rolent Redpath Janet Leech	Robert Redpath Janet Leitch 💍 1859/1706	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	25 29	that amaka	8 months year	In the lenglish church Waikowaite	25	Rev. John alleut Senton
51	30 December 1858	William McAuley Margaret Crawford	William McAuley Margaret Crawford 💍 1859/1567	Widower Spinster	BoatBuilder	32 16	Upper Harbour Upper Harbour	3 years 10 years	at the residence of Chas Crawford Upper Harbour	30 December 1858	Rev. Wyatt Dunedin

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).