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 320

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1863

No	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
146	19 February 1863	Peter Galloway Elizabeth Scotchburn	Peter Galloway Elizabeth Scotchburn 💍 1863/5055	Bachelor Spinster	Ship Steward	25 25	Port Chalmers Port Chalmers	5 days 5 days	Presbyterian Church, Port Chalmers	1180		19 February 1863	Rev. Wm Johnston
147	20 February 1863	Noble Ruff Mary Glibborn	Noble Ruff Mary Clibborn 💍 1863/3362	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 27	Dunedin Dunedin	12 months 14 days	Episcopal Church, Dunedin	1031		20 February 1863	Rev. Edward G. Edwards
148	21 February 1863	Henry Duncan Marianne Helena Wilson	Henry Duncan Marianne Helina Wilson 💍 1863/5912	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	22 26	North East Valley North East Valley	3 years 8 days	In the house of G Pommer, North East Valley Place 924			21 February 1863	Rev. D. M. Stuart
149	23 February 1863	John Wishart Margaret Lewis	John Wishart Margaret Lewis 💍 1863/5058	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 23	Dunedin N. E. Harbor	3 years 1 year	In the house of Mr Jenkins, Port Chalmers	1181		23 February 1863	Rev. Wm Johnston
150	25 February 1863	John Freeman Fanny Statery	Jno Freeman Fanny Slattery 💍 1863/5451	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	35 23	Dunedin Dunedin	14 days 14 days	Knox Church, Dunedin	933		25 February 1863	Rev. D. M. Stuart
151	26 February 1863	David Weir Agnes Sampson	David Weir Agnes Sampson 💍 1863/4192	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	23 20	Dunedin Dunedin	18 months 2 months	In the house of Mr William Hill, Anderson's Bay	11432		26 February 1863	Rev. Thomas Burns
152	26 February 1863	William Henry Monson Mary Jane Ward	William Henry Manson Mary Jane Ward 💍 1863/5439	Widower Spinster	Builder & Architect	34 24	Dunedin Dunedin	7 years 15 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Dunedin	929		26 February 1863	Rev. D. Moreau
153	27 February 1863	Alfred James Turner Catherine Roach	Alfred James Turner Catherine Roach 💍 1863/5448	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	27 23	Dunedin Dunedin	1 week 1 week	Knox Church, Dunedin	932		27 February 1863	Rev. D. M. Stuart
154	27 February 1863	Andrew Zups Catherine Walsh	Andrew Luss Catherine Walsh 💍 1863/5442	Bachelor Spinster	Fishmonger	35 25	Dunedin Dunedin	16 months 12 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Dunedin	930	John Riellies	27 February 1863	Rev. S. Moreau

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).