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 373

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
203	1 July 1864	John Aberk Eliza Taylor	John Kerr Eliza Taylor 💍 1864/5937	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	25 20	Dunedin Dunedin	2 weeks 2 yrs	In the Episcopal Church, Dunedin	1528	1 July 1864	Rev. C.G. Edwards
204	1 July 1864	James Wilkinson Jane Oakley	James Wilkinson Jane Finlay 💍 1864/3823	Widower Spinster	Brickmaker	29 28	Dunedin Dunedin	1 yr 2 yrs	In the house of Daniel Coriendall, Roslyn near Dunedin	1405	1 July 1864	Rev. Thomas Burns D.D.
205	1 July 1864	Harry Sands Bridget Barry	Harry Sandes Bridget Barry 💍 1864/5750	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 26	Dunedin Dunedin	2 yrs 1 yr	In St. Joseph's Chapel Dunedin	1605	1 July 1864	Rev. Moreau
206	2 July 1864	Alexander Reid Lettice Leckie	Alexander Reid Letitia Leckie 💍 1864/6547	Bachelor Spinster	Fruiterer	30 25	Dunedin Dunedin	2 yrs 18 months	In Alexander Reid's house, High Street Dunedin	1288	2 July 1864	Rev. R. Connebee
207	6 July 1864	George Hyde Campbell Mary O'Rouke	George Hyde Campbell Mary O'Mullane 💍 1864/5943	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	25 21	Dunedin Dunedin	15 months 2 yrs	In the Episcopal Church Dunedin	1530	6 July 1864	Rev. C.G. Edwards
208	7 July 1864	Aquila Pearce Caroline Barker	Aquila Pearce Caroline Barker 💍 1864/3	Bachelor Widow	Builder	34 36	Dunedin Dunedin	20 months 3 days	In the house of William Peardon Pearce, Maitland Street Dunedin	1568	7 July 1864	Rev. R.S. Bunn
209	8 July 1864	George Willson Frances Jane Clarke	George Willson Frances Jane Clarke 💍 1864/6253	Widower Spinster	Ironmonger	47 27	Dunedin Dunedin	18 months 15 m	In the house of the Rev. Thomas Burns D.D., Dunedin	1456	8 July 1864	Rev. Thomas Burns D.D.
210	8 July 1864	William Deus McBride Betsey Millar	William Dues McBride Betsy Millar 💍 1864/6256	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	33 22	Dunedin Dunedin	1/2 yrs 10 months	In the house of William [UNCLEAR], Dowling Street Dunedin	1457	8 July 1864	Rev. Thomas Burns D.D.
211	8 July 1864	John Craik Anna Beaumont	John Craik Mina Beaumont 💍 1864/9383	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	28 28	Dunedin Dunedin	3 yrs 1 yr	In the house of Robert Baird, Drillard Street Dunedin	1289	8 July 1864	Rev. R. Connebee

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).