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 317

District of Kaiapoi Quarter ending 30 June 1865 Registrar Charles Dudley

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

180

April 15

James William Tourell
Mary Ann Horncastle

James Wm Tourell
Mary Ann Horncastle
💍 1865/7004

Br.
Wdw.

Carpenter

36
full age

Kaiapoi

5 years
4 years

At the Parish Church at Rangiora

987

April 20

Rev. B W. Dudley

No	180
Date of Notice	April 15
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Tourell	Mary Ann Horncastle
BDM Match (88%)	James Wm Tourell	Mary Ann Horncastle
	💍 1865/7004
Condition	Br.	Wdw.
Profession	Carpenter
Age	36	full age
Dwelling Place		Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	At the Parish Church at Rangiora
Folio	987
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 20
Officiating Minister	Rev. B W. Dudley

181

April 15

Christian Hadler
Andrewina Munro

Christian Hadler
Andrina Munro
💍 1865/7426

B
Sp

Farmer
Servant

33
21

Woodend
Woodend

6 years
6 Months

At the Scotch Church at Christchurch

1132

April 13

Rev. C. Fraser

No	181
Date of Notice	April 15
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christian Hadler	Andrewina Munro
BDM Match (93%)	Christian Hadler	Andrina Munro
	💍 1865/7426
Condition	B	Sp
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Woodend	Woodend
Length of Residence	6 years	6 Months
Marriage Place	At the Scotch Church at Christchurch
Folio	1132
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 13
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

182

April 15

William Gregg
Louisa Alice Deakon

William Greig
Louisa Alice Denton
💍 1865/7049

B
Sp

Farmer
Servant

29
19

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

7 years
7 years

At the Scotch Church at Kaiapoi

1003

April 15

Rev. C. Fraser

No	182
Date of Notice	April 15
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gregg	Louisa Alice Deakon
BDM Match (91%)	William Greig	Louisa Alice Denton
	💍 1865/7049
Condition	B	Sp
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At the Scotch Church at Kaiapoi
Folio	1003
Consent
Date of Certificate	April 15
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

183

June 8

James McAllen
Hannah Stevenson

James McAllem
Hannah Stevenson
💍 1865/7037

B
Sp

Labourer
Servant

27
25

Kaiapoi
Eyrewell

Years 2
14 days

At the Parish Church at Kaiapoi

999

June 15

Rev W W Willock

No	183
Date of Notice	June 8
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McAllen	Hannah Stevenson
BDM Match (96%)	James McAllem	Hannah Stevenson
	💍 1865/7037
Condition	B	Sp
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Eyrewell
Length of Residence	Years 2	14 days
Marriage Place	At the Parish Church at Kaiapoi
Folio	999
Consent
Date of Certificate	June 15
Officiating Minister	Rev W W Willock

184

June 2

Henry Riseley
Jane Turen

Henry Riseley
Jane Truran
💍 1865/7223

B
Sp

Blacksmith
Servant

24
22

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

12 months
12 months

At the Parish Church at Christchurch

1002

June 2

Rev. W. C. Fearon

No	184
Date of Notice	June 2
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Riseley	Jane Turen
BDM Match (91%)	Henry Riseley	Jane Truran
	💍 1865/7223
Condition	B	Sp
Profession	Blacksmith	Servant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	At the Parish Church at Christchurch
Folio	1002
Consent
Date of Certificate	June 2
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Fearon

185

June 5

Michael Callaghan
Bridget Broderic

Michael Gisham
Bridget Broderick
💍 1865/7594

B
Sp

Labourer
Servant

35
25

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

3 years
3 months

At the residence of Michael Callaghan, Kaiapoi

1192

June 5

Rev.J B Chataigner

No	185
Date of Notice	June 5
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Callaghan	Bridget Broderic
BDM Match (76%)	Michael Gisham	Bridget Broderick
	💍 1865/7594
Condition	B	Sp
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Michael Callaghan, Kaiapoi
Folio	1192
Consent
Date of Certificate	June 5
Officiating Minister	Rev.J B Chataigner

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).