Intentions to Marry, 1864

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840376, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 386

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 December 1864

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
310	5 October 1864	George Young Isabella Hislop	George Young Isabella Hislop 💍 1864/6457	Bachelor Spinster	Watch Maker	26 29 yrs	Mrs Young Dunedin	2 yrs 3 yrs	In the house of John Hislop, Forth Street, Dunedin	1397		5 October 1864	Rev. D. M. Stuart
311	7 October 1864	Charles Smaill Lillias Stewart	Chas Smail Lillias Stewart 💍 1864/5529	Bachelor Spinster	Agriculturist	24 26 yrs	Tomahawk Valley Tomahawk Valley	6 yrs 4 yrs	In the house of William Stewart, Tomahawk Valley, Dunedin District	1668	William Stewart, Father	7 October 1864	Rev. J. N. Houghton
312	8 October 1864	James Waters Ann Monteith	James Waters Ann Monteath 💍 1864/6101	Bachelor Spinster	Boiler maker	30 21	Dunedin Dunedin	3 yrs 2 yrs	In the house of David Robertson, Gardener, Russell Street, Dunedin	1469		8 October 1864	Rev. Thomas Burns
313	8 October 1864	Frederick Horton Evans Blanche Lovell	Frederick Horatio Evans Blanche Lovell 💍 1864/6806	Bachelor Spinster	Estate Agent	24 21	Dunedin Dunedin	1 1/2 yrs 6 weeks	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin	1243		8 October 1864	Rev. W. Edward
314	8 October 1864	John Williamson Mary Gillies	John Williamson Mary Gillies 💍 1864/6113	Bachelor Spinster	Signal Master	30 28	Dunedin Dunedin	3 yrs 1 yr	In the house of Alex Golder Gillies, York Place, Dunedin	1473		8 October 1864	Rev. Thomas Burns
315	11 October 1864	Barnabas Nott Eliza Daniel	Barnabas Northcott Eliza Damiel 💍 1864/5876	Widower Spinster	Carrier	28 29	Dunedin Dunedin	1 yrs 1 yr	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin	1547		11 October 1864	Rev. W. Edwards
316	11 October 1864	Alexander Armstrong Jane Meilson Hamilton	Alexander Armstrong Jane Neilson Hamilton 💍 1864/6454	Bachelor Spinster	Book Keeper	27 26	N. E. Valley N. E. Valley	6 months 14 days	In the house of [UNCLEAR], N. E. Valley	1396		11 October 1864	Rev. D. M. Stuart
317	11 October 1864	John McMahon Clara Day Ward	John McMahon Clara Lazarus 💍 1864/5676	Widower Spinster	Draper	30 22	Dunedin Dunedin	2 yrs 3 months	In St. Joseph's Chapel, Dunedin	1617		11 October 1864	Rev. W. Moreau
318	12 October 1864	William Steele Julia Logan	William Steele Julia Egan 💍 1864/5679	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	34 37	Dunedin Dunedin	6 weeks 2 yrs	In St. Joseph's Chapel, Dunedin	1618		12 October 1864	Rev. W. 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).