Intentions to Marry, 1861

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840373, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 11 2024

Page 314

District of Taieri Quarter ending 31 March 1861

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

3 January 1861

Samuel Stephens
Catherine Cameron

Samuel Stephens
Catherine Ann Cameron
💍 1861/2843

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
22

Kuri Bush
Dunedin

1 year
9 months

Dwelling house of Mr Edmund Smith, Dunedin

Dunedin

5 January 1861

Rev. Thomas Burns of Dunedin

No	19
Date of Notice	3 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Stephens	Catherine Cameron
BDM Match (91%)	Samuel Stephens	Catherine Ann Cameron
	💍 1861/2843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Kuri Bush	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	9 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Edmund Smith, Dunedin
Folio	Dunedin
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns of Dunedin

5 January 1861

Alexander Storie
Jane Johnston

Alexander Stone
Jane Johnston
💍 1861/2951

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

31
30

Rosemains South Clutha
Rosemains South Clutha

4 days
3 weeks

Dwelling house of Mr James Johnston, Rosemains South Clutha

5 January 1861

Rev. William Bannerman of Clutha

No	20
Date of Notice	5 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Storie	Jane Johnston
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Stone	Jane Johnston
	💍 1861/2951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Rosemains South Clutha	Rosemains South Clutha
Length of Residence	4 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr James Johnston, Rosemains South Clutha
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Bannerman of Clutha

29 January 1861

Samuel Barnes
Jessie McCormack

[No matching marriage registration has been located] See R G folio 99/24

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

20
17

Dunedin
East Taieri

3 years
1 year

Episcopal Church Dunedin

Dunedin

John Barnes Father. No person whose consent is required, resident in the colony of N. Zealand.

29 January 1861

Rev. Edward G. Edwards of Dunedin

No	21
Date of Notice	29 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Barnes	Jessie McCormack
BDM Match (7%)
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located] See R G folio 99/24
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	East Taieri
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Episcopal Church Dunedin
Folio	Dunedin
Consent	John Barnes Father. No person whose consent is required, resident in the colony of N. Zealand.
Date of Certificate	29 January 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward G. Edwards of Dunedin

2 February 1861

Eric Sinclair
Jane Campbell

Eric Sinclair
Jane Campbell
💍 1861/2954

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

22
18

Taieri Ferry
Taieri Ferry

3 years
5 years

Dwellinghouse of Antoine Joseph Taieri Ferry

Peter Campbell Father

2 February 1861

Rev. John McNicol of Waihola

No	22
Date of Notice	2 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Sinclair	Jane Campbell
	💍 1861/2954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Taieri Ferry	Taieri Ferry
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of Antoine Joseph Taieri Ferry
Folio
Consent	Peter Campbell Father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. John McNicol of Waihola

9 February 1861

Peter Campbell
Mary McEnally

Peter Campbell
Mary McEnaby
💍 1861/2957

Widower
Widow

Sawyer

45
35

Taieri Village
Taieri Village

5 years
8 days

Dwellinghouse of said Peter Campbell Taieri Village

9 February 1861

Rev. John McNicol of Waihola

No	23
Date of Notice	9 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Campbell	Mary McEnally
BDM Match (92%)	Peter Campbell	Mary McEnaby
	💍 1861/2957
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Sawyer
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Taieri Village	Taieri Village
Length of Residence	5 years	8 days
Marriage Place	Dwellinghouse of said Peter Campbell Taieri Village
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. John McNicol of Waihola

18 February 1861

David Hughan
Hannah Jane Turner

David Hughan
Hannah Jane Turner
💍 1861/3356

Bachelor
Spinster

Agriculturist

30
17

Taieri Beach
Lower Taieri Ferry

4 years
5 months

Dwelling house of Mr Gordon Hughan Taieri Beach

Samuel Turner Father

18 February 1861

Rev. John McNicol of Waihola

No	24
Date of Notice	18 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hughan	Hannah Jane Turner
	💍 1861/3356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agriculturist
Age	30	17
Dwelling Place	Taieri Beach	Lower Taieri Ferry
Length of Residence	4 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Gordon Hughan Taieri Beach
Folio
Consent	Samuel Turner Father
Date of Certificate	18 February 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. John McNicol of Waihola

22 February 1861

William Brown Allan
Helen Webster Speid

William Brown Allan
Helen Webster Speid
💍 1861/1891

Bachelor
Spinster

Agriculturist

24
20

East Taieri
Dunedin

10 years
8 days

Dwelling house of Mr William Barr, Princes Street, Dunedin

Dunedin

Alexander Speid Father

28 February 1861

Rev. Thomas Burns of Dunedin

No	25
Date of Notice	22 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brown Allan	Helen Webster Speid
	💍 1861/1891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agriculturist
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	East Taieri	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 years	8 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr William Barr, Princes Street, Dunedin
Folio	Dunedin
Consent	Alexander Speid Father
Date of Certificate	28 February 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns of 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 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).