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 229

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1865 Registrar Edward Catchpool

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

5 July 1865

John McLaughlin
Eliza McNaught

John McLaughlin
Eliza Jane McNaught
💍 1865/6467

Bachelor
Spinster

Sergeant 2/14 Regiment
Domestic Servant

23
23

Military Barracks Napier
Shakespeare road Napier

6 months
6 months

At the Episcopalian Church, Napier

65/814

5 July 1865

Rev Dr Saywell Napier

No	69
Date of Notice	5 July 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLaughlin	Eliza McNaught
BDM Match (87%)	John McLaughlin	Eliza Jane McNaught
	💍 1865/6467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sergeant 2/14 Regiment	Domestic Servant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Military Barracks Napier	Shakespeare road Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the Episcopalian Church, Napier
Folio	65/814
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr Saywell Napier

6 July 1865

Thomas Morris
Annie Callery

Thomas Morris
Anne Callary
💍 1865/6470

Bachelor
Spinster

Sergt. Army Hospital Corps
Domestic Servant

31
21

Military Barracks Napier
Shakespeare road Napier

6 months
3 months

At the Episcopalian Church, Napier

65/815

6 July 1865

Rev. Dr Saywell Napier

No	70
Date of Notice	6 July 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Morris	Annie Callery
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Morris	Anne Callary
	💍 1865/6470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sergt. Army Hospital Corps	Domestic Servant
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Military Barracks Napier	Shakespeare road Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Episcopalian Church, Napier
Folio	65/815
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr Saywell Napier

12 July 1865

Alexander McKenzie
Catherine Ferguson

Alexander McKenzie
Catherine Ferguson
💍 1865/6473

Bachelor
Spinster

Cattle Dealer
Domestic Servant

28
20

Clive
Waipawa

7 days
3 years

At the Presbyterian Church, Napier

65/816

John Ferguson, Father

14 July 1865

Rev. P. Barclay, Napier

No	71
Date of Notice	12 July 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McKenzie	Catherine Ferguson
	💍 1865/6473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cattle Dealer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Clive	Waipawa
Length of Residence	7 days	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	65/816
Consent	John Ferguson, Father
Date of Certificate	14 July 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Barclay, Napier

4 August 1865

Franklin Tuxford
Mary Hannah Charlton

Franklin Tuxford
Mary Hannah Charlton
💍 1865/6479

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

26
18

Meanee Spit, Napier
Meanee Spit Napier

6 years
7 years

At the Episcopalian Church, Napier

65/819

George Charlton, Father

4 August 1865

Rev. Dr Saywell Napier

No	72
Date of Notice	4 August 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Franklin Tuxford	Mary Hannah Charlton
	💍 1865/6479
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Meanee Spit, Napier	Meanee Spit Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the Episcopalian Church, Napier
Folio	65/819
Consent	George Charlton, Father
Date of Certificate	4 August 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr Saywell Napier

14 August 1865

James Cooper
Letitia Taylor

James Cooper
Laetitia Taylor
💍 1865/6476

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

24
22

Te Mata
Te Mata

5 months
2 years

At the Residence of John Chambers, Te Mata

65/818

14 August 1865

Rev. E Reignier, Meanee Flat

No	73
Date of Notice	14 August 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cooper	Letitia Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	James Cooper	Laetitia Taylor
	💍 1865/6476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Te Mata	Te Mata
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of John Chambers, Te Mata
Folio	65/818
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E Reignier, Meanee Flat

24 August 1865

Thomas Schon
Sarah Burton

Thomas Schon
Sarah Burton
💍 1865/6482

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner
Nil

31
23

Waghorn St, Napier
Waghorn St, Napier

1 year
4 months

At the residence of the Registrar of Marriages Milton Road, Napier

65/820

24 August 1865

Registrar of Marriages Napier

No	74
Date of Notice	24 August 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Schon	Sarah Burton
	💍 1865/6482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Nil
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Waghorn St, Napier	Waghorn St, Napier
Length of Residence	1 year	4 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of the Registrar of Marriages Milton Road, Napier
Folio	65/820
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1865
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Napier

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).