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 062

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1864

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

1814

20 May 1864

Alexander Mitchelson
Ann McLeod
formerly McLeod

Alexander Mitchelson
Anne McLeod
💍 1864/3978

Widower
Widow

Mariner
-

52
41

Nelson Street, Auckland
Emily Place, Auckland

20 years
5 years

The dwelling house of Capt. Anderson, Stanley Street, Auckland

20 May 1864

Rev D Breech

No	1814
Date of Notice	20 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mitchelson	Ann McLeod formerly McLeod
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Mitchelson	Anne McLeod
	💍 1864/3978
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Mariner	-
Age	52	41
Dwelling Place	Nelson Street, Auckland	Emily Place, Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Capt. Anderson, Stanley Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev D Breech

1815

21 May 1864

Charles Hooker
[abbrev. "Chas"]
Mary Ann Owen

Charles Hooker
Mary Ann Owen
💍 1864/4321

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Servant

22
23

Princes Street, Auckland
Victoria Street, Auckland

16 years
10 months

The Wesleyan Chapel in High Street, Auckland

21 May 1864

Rev T. Buddle

No	1815
Date of Notice	21 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hooker [abbrev. "Chas"]	Mary Ann Owen
	💍 1864/4321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Servant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Princes Street, Auckland	Victoria Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	10 months
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Chapel in High Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev T. Buddle

1816

21 May 1864

Hender Corneilius Udy
Elizabeth Muir

Hender Cornelius Udy
Elizabeth Muir
💍 1864/9112

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
-

28
19

Eden Grove Near Auckland
Papatoetoe

4 years
From Birth

The dwelling house of Mr Alexander Muir, Woodside Farm, Papatoetoe

Alexander Muir, Father

21 May 1864

Rev H Lawry

No	1816
Date of Notice	21 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hender Corneilius Udy	Elizabeth Muir
BDM Match (98%)	Hender Cornelius Udy	Elizabeth Muir
	💍 1864/9112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	-
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Eden Grove Near Auckland	Papatoetoe
Length of Residence	4 years	From Birth
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mr Alexander Muir, Woodside Farm, Papatoetoe
Folio
Consent	Alexander Muir, Father
Date of Certificate	21 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev H Lawry

1817

23 May 1864

Franz Schrader
Alice Henderson

Franz Schrader
Alice Henderson
💍 1864/8920

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
-

30
20

Wyndham Street, Auckland
Victoria Street, Auckland

2 years
2 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

23 May 1864

Rev D Jones

No	1817
Date of Notice	23 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franz Schrader	Alice Henderson
	💍 1864/8920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	-
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Wyndham Street, Auckland	Victoria Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev D Jones

1818

23 May 1864

Charles Meacham
Mary Fahey

Charles Meacham
Mary Fahey
💍 1864/9311

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
-

30
21

Barrack Street, Auckland
Grafton Road, Auckland

1 month
3 years

St. Paul's Church, Auckland, and St. Patrick's Church, Auckland

23 May 1864

Rev J F Lloyd and Very Rev J Macdonald

No	1818
Date of Notice	23 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Meacham	Mary Fahey
	💍 1864/9311
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	-
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Barrack Street, Auckland	Grafton Road, Auckland
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland, and St. Patrick's Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev J F Lloyd and Very Rev J Macdonald

1819

23 May 1864

Benjamine Buck
Jane Collett
formerly Humphries

Benjamin Buck
Jane Collett
💍 1864/4665

Bachelor
Widow

Carter
-

23
27

Wakefield Street, Auckland
Wakefield Street, Auckland

8 months
2 years

The Primitive Methodist Church, Edwardes Street, Auckland

23 May 1864

Rev J. Long

No	1819
Date of Notice	23 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamine Buck	Jane Collett formerly Humphries
BDM Match (96%)	Benjamin Buck	Jane Collett
	💍 1864/4665
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carter	-
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Wakefield Street, Auckland	Wakefield Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	8 months	2 years
Marriage Place	The Primitive Methodist Church, Edwardes Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Long

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).