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 049

District of Auckland Quarter ending Jan - Dec

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

2168

14 February 1865

Joseph Stephens
Louisa Crairgan
formerly Crairgan

No corresponding marriage registration located

Bachelor
Widow

Shipwright
Boarding HouseKeeper

24
30

Onehunga
Onehunga

3 years
5 mths

Roman Catholic Church

14 February 1865

Rev. James Paul

No	2168
Date of Notice	14 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Stephens	Louisa Crairgan formerly Crairgan
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration located
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shipwright	Boarding HouseKeeper
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	3 years	5 mths
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paul

2169

15 February 1865

John Charles Marter
Eliza Kidd

John Charles Master
Eliza Kidd
💍 1865/4655

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator

26
22

Queen Street Auckland
Queen Street Auckland

8 mths
4 mths

Office of Registrar of Marriages Auckland

15 February 1865

Registrar of Marriages

No	2169
Date of Notice	15 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Marter	Eliza Kidd
BDM Match (97%)	John Charles Master	Eliza Kidd
	💍 1865/4655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Queen Street Auckland	Queen Street Auckland
Length of Residence	8 mths	4 mths
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

2170

16 February 1865

John Shilliton Blackhouse
Sarah Eliza Shillito

John Philomon Backhouse
Sarah Eliza Philip
💍 1865/3936

Bachelor
Spinster

Waikato militiaman

20
16

Onehunga
Onehunga

9 mths
6 mths

House of Rev. Geo. Brown Onehunga

762

Andrew Philip father

16 February 1865

Rev. George Brown

No	2170
Date of Notice	16 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shilliton Blackhouse	Sarah Eliza Shillito
BDM Match (80%)	John Philomon Backhouse	Sarah Eliza Philip
	💍 1865/3936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waikato militiaman
Age	20	16
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	9 mths	6 mths
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Geo. Brown Onehunga
Folio	762
Consent	Andrew Philip father
Date of Certificate	16 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Brown

2171

16 February 1865

James Sloan
Mary Kenny

James Sloan
Mary Henry
💍 1865/5366

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
22

Usually at Whangarei - in Auckland
Usually at Whangarei - in Auckland

3 days
10 days

St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church Parnell

16 February 1865

Rev. O. Harnett Barratt

No	2171
Date of Notice	16 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sloan	Mary Kenny
BDM Match (90%)	James Sloan	Mary Henry
	💍 1865/5366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Usually at Whangarei - in Auckland	Usually at Whangarei - in Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	10 days
Marriage Place	St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church Parnell
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Harnett Barratt

2172

23 February 1865

Charles Inman
Mary Mullen

Charles Tuman
Mary Mullen
💍 1865/4526

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

23
22

Newmarket
Newton

18 mths
18 mths

St. Matthews Church Auckland

773

3 March 1865

Rev. Neugent Bree

No	2172
Date of Notice	23 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Inman	Mary Mullen
BDM Match (92%)	Charles Tuman	Mary Mullen
	💍 1865/4526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Newmarket	Newton
Length of Residence	18 mths	18 mths
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	773
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Neugent Bree

2173

17 February 1865

Matthew Ball
Janet Douglas

Matthew Hall
Janet Douglas
💍 1865/5555

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler

25
16

Victoria Street Auckland
Mangere

2 mths
18 "

House of Mr Thomas Douglas at Mangere

775

Thomas Douglas

17 February 1865

Rev. John Mackey

No	2173
Date of Notice	17 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Ball	Janet Douglas
BDM Match (96%)	Matthew Hall	Janet Douglas
	💍 1865/5555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler
Age	25	16
Dwelling Place	Victoria Street Auckland	Mangere
Length of Residence	2 mths	18 "
Marriage Place	House of Mr Thomas Douglas at Mangere
Folio	775
Consent	Thomas Douglas
Date of Certificate	17 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackey

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 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).