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 060

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

1802

7 May 1864

Archibald Wallace
Jessie Thomson

Archibald Wallace
Jessie Thomson
💍 1864/9242

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

3 years
11 years

The dwelling of Mr David Thomson at Low Bank, Otahuhu

7 May 1864

Rev J Macky

No	1802
Date of Notice	7 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Wallace	Jessie Thomson
	💍 1864/9242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	3 years	11 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling of Mr David Thomson at Low Bank, Otahuhu
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev J Macky

1803

9 May 1864

Cort Henry Schnackenberg
Annie Jane Allen

Carl Henry Schnackenberg
Annie Jane Allen
💍 1864/4315

Widower
Spinster

Wesleyan Missionary
Governess

51
28

Usually at Kawhia - in Auckland
Newton

5 days
6 months at Newton

The dwelling house of Mr Thos Allen, at Newton

9 May 1864

Rev Thos Buddle

No	1803
Date of Notice	9 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cort Henry Schnackenberg	Annie Jane Allen
BDM Match (96%)	Carl Henry Schnackenberg	Annie Jane Allen
	💍 1864/4315
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Wesleyan Missionary	Governess
Age	51	28
Dwelling Place	Usually at Kawhia - in Auckland	Newton
Length of Residence	5 days	6 months at Newton
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mr Thos Allen, at Newton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev Thos Buddle

1804

9 May 1864

William Ingram
Mary Ann Lynch

William Ingram
Mary Ann Lynch
💍 1864/4656

Widower
Spinster

Bricklayer
Dress Maker

45
35

Coburg Street, Auckland
Union Street, Auckland

2 years
1 week

The Primitive Methodist Chapel in Edwardes Street, Auckland

9 May 1864

Rev J Long

No	1804
Date of Notice	9 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ingram	Mary Ann Lynch
	💍 1864/4656
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Dress Maker
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Coburg Street, Auckland	Union Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	The Primitive Methodist Chapel in Edwardes Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev J Long

1805

9 May 1864

James Fisher
Mary Mathews

James Fisher
Mary Matthews
💍 1864/9008

Widower
Spinster

Ship Joiner
Tailoress

34
30

Onehunga
Onehunga

8 weeks
8 weeks

The Presbyterian Church, Onehunga

9 May 1864

Rev G. Brown

No	1805
Date of Notice	9 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fisher	Mary Mathews
BDM Match (96%)	James Fisher	Mary Matthews
	💍 1864/9008
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Ship Joiner	Tailoress
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	8 weeks	8 weeks
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Brown

1806

10 May 1864

Samuel Goodacre
Kezia Edwards

Samuel Goodacre
Keria Edwards
💍 1864/4662

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Milliner

26
21

Edwardes Street, Auckland
Wakefield Street, Auckland

18 months
3 months

The Primitive Methodist Chapel in Edwardes Street, Auckland

10 May 1864

Rev J Long

No	1806
Date of Notice	10 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Goodacre	Kezia Edwards
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Goodacre	Keria Edwards
	💍 1864/4662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Milliner
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Edwardes Street, Auckland	Wakefield Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	18 months	3 months
Marriage Place	The Primitive Methodist Chapel in Edwardes Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev J Long

1807

10 May 1864

John Brunton
Maria Frances Langley

John Brunton
Maria Frances Langley
💍 1864/3972

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
15

The Wade
Napier Street, Auckland

10 years
18 months

The dwelling house of Mr G Bennett in Napier Street, Auckland

Mary Maria Langley, Mother

10 May 1864

Rev D Bruce

No	1807
Date of Notice	10 May 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brunton	Maria Frances Langley
	💍 1864/3972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	15
Dwelling Place	The Wade	Napier Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mr G Bennett in Napier Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Mary Maria Langley, Mother
Date of Certificate	10 May 1864
Officiating Minister	Rev D Bruce

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).