Intentions to Marry, 1863

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840375, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 342

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 1863

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

223

18 July 1863

Nicholas Reed
Mary Morgan

Nicholas Reed
Mary Morgan
💍 1863/5860

Bachelor
Spinster

Horsebreaker

23
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 months
2 years

In the Wesleyan Chapel, Dunedin

906

18 July 1863

Rev. Isaac Harden

No	223
Date of Notice	18 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Reed	Mary Morgan
	💍 1863/5860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horsebreaker
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Chapel, Dunedin
Folio	906
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Harden

224

20 July 1863

John Ross
Elizabeth Sildsley

John Ross
Elizabeth Tildsley
💍 1863/4117

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

28
26

Dunedin
Dunedin

12 months
6 months

In the house of the Rev. Thomas Burns

1468

20 July 1863

Rev. Thomas Burns

No	224
Date of Notice	20 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ross	Elizabeth Sildsley
BDM Match (97%)	John Ross	Elizabeth Tildsley
	💍 1863/4117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	12 months	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. Thomas Burns
Folio	1468
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns

225

20 July 1863

Henry Jaggers
Eliza Clarissa Prictor

Henry Jaggers
Eliza Clarissa Prictor
💍 1863/5891

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

24
23

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 years

In the house of George Prictor, Bootmaker, George Street, Dunedin

916

20 July 1863

Rev. D. M. Stuart

No	225
Date of Notice	20 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jaggers	Eliza Clarissa Prictor
	💍 1863/5891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of George Prictor, Bootmaker, George Street, Dunedin
Folio	916
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Stuart

226

20 July 1863

John Shields
Rebecca Murley

John Shields
Rebecca Murley
💍 1863/5897

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

30
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 years
6 months

In the house of James Ford, Cumberland Street, Dunedin

918

20 July 1863

Rev. Isaac Harden

No	226
Date of Notice	20 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shields	Rebecca Murley
	💍 1863/5897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of James Ford, Cumberland Street, Dunedin
Folio	918
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Harden

227

21 July 1863

James Whitelaw
Rachel Johnston Brown

James Whitelaw
Rachel Johnston Brown
💍 1863/4368

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

37
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
1 year

In the house of Mr. Thomas Brown, Leith Street, Dunedin

1388

21 July 1863

Rev. D. M. Stuart

No	227
Date of Notice	21 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Whitelaw	Rachel Johnston Brown
	💍 1863/4368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	37	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Thomas Brown, Leith Street, Dunedin
Folio	1388
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Stuart

228

22 July 1863

Andrew Smith David
Elizabeth Laidlaw Thompson

Andrew Smith Baird
Elizabeth Laidlaw Thompson
💍 1863/5205

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

26
22

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
6 weeks

In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin

1032

22 July 1863

Rev. E. G. Edwards

No	228
Date of Notice	22 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Smith David	Elizabeth Laidlaw Thompson
BDM Match (92%)	Andrew Smith Baird	Elizabeth Laidlaw Thompson
	💍 1863/5205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin
Folio	1032
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Edwards

229

23 July 1863

William Gunday Tyack
Eliza Dickson

William Gundey Tyack
Eliza Burn Nixon
💍 1863/5882

Bachelor
Widow

Miner

33
28

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin

913

23 July 1863

Rev. Edward G. Edwards

No	229
Date of Notice	23 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gunday Tyack	Eliza Dickson
BDM Match (73%)	William Gundey Tyack	Eliza Burn Nixon
	💍 1863/5882
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin
Folio	913
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edward G. Edwards

230

24 July 1863

Alexander Cameron
Eliza Taylor

No corresponding marriage registration located

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
23

Wakari
Wakari

7 days
3 weeks

In the house of Angus McMillan, Wakari

914

24 July 1863

Rev. Thomas Burns

No	230
Date of Notice	24 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Cameron	Eliza Taylor
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration located
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wakari	Wakari
Length of Residence	7 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Angus McMillan, Wakari
Folio	914
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns

231

25 July 1863

William Peacock
Elizabeth Kerslake

William Peacock
Elizabeth Kerslake
💍 1863/5413

Bachelor
Spinster

Custom House Boatman

23
19

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

18 months
1 month

In the house of the Rev Mr Johnston, Port Chalmers

1101

No person entitled to give consent

25 July 1863

Rev. William Johnstone

No	231
Date of Notice	25 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peacock	Elizabeth Kerslake
	💍 1863/5413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Custom House Boatman
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	18 months	1 month
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev Mr Johnston, Port Chalmers
Folio	1101
Consent	No person entitled to give consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Johnstone

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).