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 080

District of AUCKLAND Quarter ending 30 September 1864 Registrar John M Wayland

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

1925

25 August 1864

Thomas Courtenay
Eliza Blakely

Thomas Courtenay
Eliza Blakeley
💍 1864/4831

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Housemaid

20
22

West Queen Street, Auckland
Chapel Street, Auckland

12 Months
2 Years

The dwelling house of Mr John Campbell in Durham St, Auckland

Thos. Courtenay bridegroom in the absence from the Colony of any person with authority to consent

8 September 1864

Rev. James Hill

No	1925
Date of Notice	25 August 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Courtenay	Eliza Blakely
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Courtenay	Eliza Blakeley
	💍 1864/4831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Housemaid
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	West Queen Street, Auckland	Chapel Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	12 Months	2 Years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mr John Campbell in Durham St, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Thos. Courtenay bridegroom in the absence from the Colony of any person with authority to consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hill

1926

27 August 1864

Henry Tom Downs
Mary Ann Gore

Henry Tom Downs
Mary Ann Gore
💍 1864/8958

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatman
Domestic Servant

23
22

Victoria St, Auckland
Victoria Street, Auckland

2 Years
2 Years

St Matthews Church Auckland

27 August 1864

Rev. David Jones

No	1926
Date of Notice	27 August 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Tom Downs	Mary Ann Gore
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Tom Downs	Mary Ann Gore
	💍 1864/8958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatman	Domestic Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Victoria St, Auckland	Victoria Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 Years	2 Years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jones

1927

29 August 1864

William Walter Bathe Camfield
Alice Reynolds

William Walter Bathe Cawfield
Alice Reynolds
💍 1864/9326

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

23
23

Chapel Street, Auckland
Elliot St, Auckland

13 Months
20 Months

St. Pauls Church Auckland

29 August 1864

Revd J F Lloyd

No	1927
Date of Notice	29 August 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walter Bathe Camfield	Alice Reynolds
BDM Match (98%)	William Walter Bathe Cawfield	Alice Reynolds
	💍 1864/9326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Chapel Street, Auckland	Elliot St, Auckland
Length of Residence	13 Months	20 Months
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1864
Officiating Minister	Revd J F Lloyd

1928

31 August 1864

Joseph William Bradfield
Ann Hynes

Joseph William Bradfield
Ann Hynes
💍 1864/8814

Bachelor
Spinster

Soda Water Manufacturer
Domestic Servant

23
16

Auckland
Auckland

12 Yrs
8 Yrs

The Roman Catholic Church Onehunga

Elizabeth Hynes, Mother

31 August 1864

Rev. James Paul

No	1928
Date of Notice	31 August 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Bradfield	Ann Hynes
	💍 1864/8814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soda Water Manufacturer	Domestic Servant
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 Yrs	8 Yrs
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church Onehunga
Folio
Consent	Elizabeth Hynes, Mother
Date of Certificate	31 August 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paul

1929

2 September 1864

John James Atkinson
Helena Dyer

John James Atkinson
Helena Dyer
💍 1864/3675

Widower
Spinster

Settler

30
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

The office of the Registrar of Marriages in Auckland

2 September 1864

John M. Wayland Registrar

No	1929
Date of Notice	2 September 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Atkinson	Helena Dyer
	💍 1864/3675
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages in Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1864
Officiating Minister	John M. Wayland Registrar

1930

2 September 1864

Thomas Kirk
Elizabeth Shepherd
formerly Shepherd

Thomas Kirk
Elizabeth Shepherd
💍 1864/4196

Bachelor
Widow

Stonemason

27
27

Parnell
Parnell

4 Months
1 Year

Inthe dwelling house of Peter Smith near the Wynyard Street, Auckland

2 September 1864

Rev. David Bruce

No	1930
Date of Notice	2 September 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Kirk	Elizabeth Shepherd formerly Shepherd
	💍 1864/4196
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Stonemason
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Parnell
Length of Residence	4 Months	1 Year
Marriage Place	Inthe dwelling house of Peter Smith near the Wynyard Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

1931

2 September 1864

John Stewart
Mary Brading
formerly Blacklier

Certificate not issued

Bachelor
Widow

Clerk

29
30

Wynyard Street Auckland
Albert Street, Auckland

4 Months
3 Months

St Matthews Church Auckland

No	1931
Date of Notice	2 September 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart	Mary Brading formerly Blacklier
BDM Match (8%)
	💍 Certificate not issued
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Wynyard Street Auckland	Albert Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	4 Months	3 Months
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

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 1908. 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).