1865 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840377, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 037

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1865 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

2094

4 January 1865

George Martin Chambers
Sarah Ann McKenzie Duggig Dearness

George Martin Chalmers
Sarah Ann McKenzie Duggig Deerness
💍 1865/4949

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

29
20

Union Street Auckland
Off Napier Street Auckland

2 years
2 years

The dwelling house of James Dearness of Napier Street Auckland

James Dearness Father

4 January 1865

Rev. James Hill

No	2094
Date of Notice	4 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Martin Chambers	Sarah Ann McKenzie Duggig Dearness
BDM Match (94%)	George Martin Chalmers	Sarah Ann McKenzie Duggig Deerness
	💍 1865/4949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Union Street Auckland	Off Napier Street Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of James Dearness of Napier Street Auckland
Folio
Consent	James Dearness Father
Date of Certificate	4 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hill

2098

4 January 1865

John Burden
Jane Elizabeth Matheson

John Burden
Jane Elizabeth Matheson
💍 1865/4211

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood Turner

24
22

Elliot Street Auckland
Parnell

7 years
6 years

St Andrews the Presbyterian Church in Auckland

9 February 1865

Rev. D Bruce

No	2098
Date of Notice	4 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Burden	Jane Elizabeth Matheson
	💍 1865/4211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood Turner
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Elliot Street Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews the Presbyterian Church in Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. D Bruce

2099

4 January 1865

George Danne
Emily Simpson Hill

George Danne
Emily Simpson Hill
💍 1865/4889

Bachelor
Spinster

Waikato Militiaman

30
18

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 weeks

Dwelling house of the Rev. G. Brown at Onehunga

Hannah Ryan Mother

4 January 1865

Rev George Brown

No	2099
Date of Notice	4 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Danne	Emily Simpson Hill
	💍 1865/4889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waikato Militiaman
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of the Rev. G. Brown at Onehunga
Folio
Consent	Hannah Ryan Mother
Date of Certificate	4 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev George Brown

2100

4January 1865

William Henry Steele
Sophia Ann Adeane

William Henry Steel
Sophia Ann Adeane
💍 1865/4754

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

23
17

Parnell
Edwardes Street Auckland

15 years
5 years

Dwelling house of Mr Steele in Parnell

John Adeane Father

4 January 1865

Rev John Warren

No	2100
Date of Notice	4January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Steele	Sophia Ann Adeane
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Steel	Sophia Ann Adeane
	💍 1865/4754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Edwardes Street Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Steele in Parnell
Folio
Consent	John Adeane Father
Date of Certificate	4 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev John Warren

2101

4 January 1865

James Simpson
Mary Ann Simpson
formerly Rafferty

James Simpson
Mary Ann Simpson
💍 1865/4160

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

27
25

Onehunga
Onehunga

6 yrs
18 yrs

Roman Catholic Church Onehunga

4 January 1865

Rev J. Paul

No	2101
Date of Notice	4 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Simpson	Mary Ann Simpson formerly Rafferty
	💍 1865/4160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	6 yrs	18 yrs
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paul

2102

5 January 1865

James Bergin
Margaret Lelor

James Bergin
Margaret Lalor
💍 1865/5078

Widower
Spinster

Sergt 50th Regt
Dress Maker

30
29

Albert Barracks Auckland
Abercrombie St Auckland

1 year
1 1/2 yrs.

St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Auckland

19 January 1865

Rev James McDonald

No	2102
Date of Notice	5 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bergin	Margaret Lelor
BDM Match (96%)	James Bergin	Margaret Lalor
	💍 1865/5078
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sergt 50th Regt	Dress Maker
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Albert Barracks Auckland	Abercrombie St Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	1 1/2 yrs.
Marriage Place	St Patricks Roman Catholic Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev James McDonald

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).