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 319

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 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

6 February 1863

Richard Edwards
Ellen Newton

Richard Edwards
Ellen Newton
💍 1863/5178

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

5 years
2 years

In the house of the Revd D. M. Stuart, Dunedin

1021

6 February 1863

Revd D. M. Stuart

No	37
Date of Notice	6 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edwards	Ellen Newton
	💍 1863/5178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd D. M. Stuart, Dunedin
Folio	1021
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd D. M. Stuart

7 February 1863

Phillip Brady
Catharine Owens

Philip Brady
Catherine Owens
💍 1863/5184

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 days
14 days

In the Roman Catholic Church, Dunedin

1023

7 February 1863

Revd D. Moreau

No	38
Date of Notice	7 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Phillip Brady	Catharine Owens
BDM Match (93%)	Philip Brady	Catherine Owens
	💍 1863/5184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 days	14 days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church, Dunedin
Folio	1023
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd D. Moreau

9 February 1863

John Craigie
Sarah Airdale

John Craigie
Sarah Airedale
💍 1863/3730

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright

32 years
30 years

Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers

18 months
10 months

In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin

1028

9 February 1863

Revd Edward G. Edwards

No	39
Date of Notice	9 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Craigie	Sarah Airdale
BDM Match (96%)	John Craigie	Sarah Airedale
	💍 1863/3730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright
Age	32 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	18 months	10 months
Marriage Place	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin
Folio	1028
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd Edward G. Edwards

14 February 1863

James Perry Finucane
Mary O'Neill

James Perry Finucane
Mary O'Neil
💍 1863/5187

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

27 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
18 months

In the house of the Revd D. Moreau, Duncan Street, Dunedin

1024

14 February 1863

Revd D. Moreau

No	40
Date of Notice	14 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Perry Finucane	Mary O'Neill
BDM Match (96%)	James Perry Finucane	Mary O'Neil
	💍 1863/5187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd D. Moreau, Duncan Street, Dunedin
Folio	1024
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd D. Moreau

14 February 1863

George Hector McDonald
Mary Jeffreys

George Hector McDonald
Mary Jeffreys
💍 1863/5202

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

37 years
31 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 months
9 months

In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin

1030

14 February 1863

Revd Edward G. Edwards

No	41
Date of Notice	14 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hector McDonald	Mary Jeffreys
	💍 1863/5202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	37 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 months	9 months
Marriage Place	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin
Folio	1030
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd Edward G. Edwards

14 February 1863

Thomas Floyd
Dorethea Judith Hay Addington

No corresponding marriage registration located.

Widower
Spinster

Boat Builder

50 years
45 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 months
5 months

In Knox Church, Dunedin

14 February 1863

Revd D. M. Stuart

No	42
Date of Notice	14 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Floyd	Dorethea Judith Hay Addington
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration located.
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boat Builder
Age	50 years	45 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 months	5 months
Marriage Place	In Knox Church, Dunedin
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd D. M. Stuart

16 February 1863

Lewis Simmins
Bridget Gleason

No corresponding marriage registration located.

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier

28 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 months
8 months

In the house of the Revd D. Moreau, Duncan Street, Dunedin

16 February 1863

Revd D. Moreau

No	43
Date of Notice	16 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Simmins	Bridget Gleason
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration located.
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 months	8 months
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd D. Moreau, Duncan Street, Dunedin
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd D. Moreau

17 February 1863

John Brady
Margaret Smith

John Brady
Margaret Smith
💍 1863/5193

Widower
Spinster

Laborer

45 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
3 days

In the house of the Revd D. Moreau, Duncan Street, Dunedin

1026

17 February 1863

Revd D. Moreau

No	44
Date of Notice	17 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brady	Margaret Smith
	💍 1863/5193
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	45 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Revd D. Moreau, Duncan Street, Dunedin
Folio	1026
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd D. Moreau

17 February 1863

David Miller
Ellen Miller Macpherson

David Miller
Ellen Miller McPherson
💍 1863/4189

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27 years
26 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 months
1 month

In the house of David Miller, Carpenter, Kaikorai Bush Hill

1431

17 February 1863

Revd Thomas Burns D.D.

No	45
Date of Notice	17 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Miller	Ellen Miller Macpherson
BDM Match (96%)	David Miller	Ellen Miller McPherson
	💍 1863/4189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	1 month
Marriage Place	In the house of David Miller, Carpenter, Kaikorai Bush Hill
Folio	1431
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd Thomas Burns D.D.

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).