Intentions to Marry, 1859

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840371, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 12 2024

Page 203

District of Otago Quarter ending 30th of September 1859

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

25 June 1859

Thomas Renwick Harkness
Grace Fisher

Francis Renwick Harkness
Grace Fisher
💍 1859/1199

Bachelor
Spinster

Mason

31
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years

At the residence of John Chisholm, Dunedin

9 July 1859

Rev. Thomas Burns Dunedin

No	43
Date of Notice	25 June 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Renwick Harkness	Grace Fisher
BDM Match (88%)	Francis Renwick Harkness	Grace Fisher
	💍 1859/1199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mason
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of John Chisholm, Dunedin
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns Dunedin

2 July 1859

Robert McNeil
Margaret Blair McDonald

Robert McNeil
Margaret Blair McDonald
💍 1859/1533

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
22

Clutha
Taieri Beach

9 years
8 years

At the residence of James McDonald Taieri Beach

2 July 1859

Rev. John McNicol Waihola

No	44
Date of Notice	2 July 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McNeil	Margaret Blair McDonald
	💍 1859/1533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Clutha	Taieri Beach
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of James McDonald Taieri Beach
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. John McNicol Waihola

9 July 1859

Frederick Hamer
Helen Dow

Frederick Hamer
Ellen Dow
💍 1859/1611

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
27

North east valley
North East Valley

5 years
18 months

At the Episcopal Church Dunedin

9 July 1859

Rev. Edward George Edwards, Dunedin

No	47
Date of Notice	9 July 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Hamer	Helen Dow
BDM Match (89%)	Frederick Hamer	Ellen Dow
	💍 1859/1611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	North east valley	North East Valley
Length of Residence	5 years	18 months
Marriage Place	At the Episcopal Church Dunedin
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward George Edwards, Dunedin

14 July 1859

Thomas Henry Joseph Blatch
Margaret Mackenzie

Thomas Henry Joseph Blatch
Margaret McKenzie
💍 1859/1637

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

22
30

West Taieri
West Taieri

12 years
5 years

At the residence of Henry Monson jnr Dunedin

14 July 1859

Rev. Thomas Burns Dunedin

No	48
Date of Notice	14 July 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Joseph Blatch	Margaret Mackenzie
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Henry Joseph Blatch	Margaret McKenzie
	💍 1859/1637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	22	30
Dwelling Place	West Taieri	West Taieri
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Henry Monson jnr Dunedin
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns Dunedin

20 July 1859

Thomas Welburne
Mary Ann Smith

Thomas Wellbourn
Mary Ann Smith
💍 1859/1608

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

22
22

Portobello
Portobello

1 year
1 year

In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin

20 July 1859

Rev. Edward George Edwards Dunedin

No	49
Date of Notice	20 July 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Welburne	Mary Ann Smith
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Wellbourn	Mary Ann Smith
	💍 1859/1608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Portobello	Portobello
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward George Edwards Dunedin

23 July 1859

George Foreman
Lydia Bacon

George Foreman
Lydia Bacon
💍 1859/1524

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatman

25
21

Upper Harbour
Portobello Bay

18 months
14 months

At the residence of Wm Bacon Portobello Bay

23 July 1859

Rev. William Johnston Port Chalmers

No	50
Date of Notice	23 July 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Foreman	Lydia Bacon
	💍 1859/1524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatman
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Upper Harbour	Portobello Bay
Length of Residence	18 months	14 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Wm Bacon Portobello Bay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Johnston Port Chalmers

27 July 1859

Archibald McShannon
Rachel Nicol

Archd McShannon
Rachel Nicol
💍 1859/1500

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

23
18

West Taieri
West Taieri

3 years
2.5 years

At the residence of Wm Pollock Breadalbane West Taieri

27 July 1859

Rev. William Will East Taieri

No	51
Date of Notice	27 July 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald McShannon	Rachel Nicol
BDM Match (89%)	Archd McShannon	Rachel Nicol
	💍 1859/1500
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	West Taieri	West Taieri
Length of Residence	3 years	2.5 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Wm Pollock Breadalbane West Taieri
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Will East Taieri

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 1903. 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).