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 404

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1865 Registrar John Gillies

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

150

13 January 1865

Charles Keith Douglas
May Johnston

Charles Keith Douglas
May Johnston
💍 1865/8768

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

32
18

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 days
2 yrs

In the house of Mrs Johnston, Canongate Dunedin

65/1602

Ann Johnston, mother

13 January 1865

Rev. Thomas Burns D D

No	150
Date of Notice	13 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Keith Douglas	May Johnston
	💍 1865/8768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 days	2 yrs
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Johnston, Canongate Dunedin
Folio	65/1602
Consent	Ann Johnston, mother
Date of Certificate	13 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns D D

151

13 January 1865

Andrew Davidson
Mary McKay

Andrew Davidson
Mary MacKay
💍 1865/8498

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman

23
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 weeks
4 weeks

In the house of Mrs Davidson, Filleul Street Dunedin

65/1505

13 January 1865

Rev. D. M. Stuart

No	151
Date of Notice	13 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Davidson	Mary McKay
BDM Match (95%)	Andrew Davidson	Mary MacKay
	💍 1865/8498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Davidson, Filleul Street Dunedin
Folio	65/1505
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Stuart

152

14 January 1865

Joseph Dobson
Susan Paterson

Joseph Dobson
Susan Paterson
💍 1865/8492

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

34
29

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 days
4 days

In Knox Church Dunedin

65/1502

14 January 1865

Rev. D M. Stuart

No	152
Date of Notice	14 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Dobson	Susan Paterson
	💍 1865/8492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	65/1502
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. D M. Stuart

153

14 January 1865

James Taylor
Mary Ann Raitt

James Taylor
Mary Ann Raitt
💍 1865/4062

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Servant

32
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 days
4 days

In Knox Church Dunedin

65/1504

14 January 1865

Rev. D. M. Stuart

No	153
Date of Notice	14 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Taylor	Mary Ann Raitt
	💍 1865/4062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Servant
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 days	4 days
Marriage Place	In Knox Church Dunedin
Folio	65/1504
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Stuart

154

16 January 1865

Alexander Henry Benson
Emma Sigley

Alexander Henry Benson
Emma Sigley
💍 1865/8771

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

32
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 yrs
3 yrs

In the house of the Rev. T. Burns D.D. Dunedin

65/1603

No person to give consent

16 January 1865

Rev. T. Burns D D

No	154
Date of Notice	16 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Henry Benson	Emma Sigley
	💍 1865/8771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 yrs	3 yrs
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. T. Burns D.D. Dunedin
Folio	65/1603
Consent	No person to give consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Burns D D

155

17 January 1865

Alfred Guthrie Graham
Eliza Denison

Alfred Guthrie Graham
Eliza Denison
💍 1865/8990

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

24
20

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 yrs
4 months

In St. Paul's Church Dunedin

65/1680

No person to give consent

17 January 1865

Rev. E. G. Edwards

No	155
Date of Notice	17 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Guthrie Graham	Eliza Denison
	💍 1865/8990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 yrs	4 months
Marriage Place	In St. Paul's Church Dunedin
Folio	65/1680
Consent	No person to give consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Edwards

156

17 January 1865

Frederick Engledue Fynmore
Fanny Thomas

Frederick Engledue Fynmore
Fanny Thomas
💍 1865/8240

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

27
24

Dunedin
Dunedin

6 months
3 days

In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

65/1417

17 January 1865

Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

No	156
Date of Notice	17 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Engledue Fynmore	Fanny Thomas
BDM Match (96%)	Frederick Engledue Fynmore	Fanny Thomas
	💍 1865/8240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	6 months	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	65/1417
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

157

17 January 1865

Bernard O'Neil
Ann Gilday

Bernard O'Neil
Ann Gilday
💍 1865/8327

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

25
21

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
2 weeks

In St. Joseph's Chapel Dunedin

65/1444

17 January 1865

Rev. D. Moreau

No	157
Date of Notice	17 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard O'Neil	Ann Gilday
	💍 1865/8327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Chapel Dunedin
Folio	65/1444
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Moreau

158

17 January 1865

Hugh Baird
Ellen Matilda Williams

Hugh Baird
Ellen Matilda Williams
💍 1865/8075

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

37
25

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 yrs
1 yr

In the house of Hugh Baird, View Street Dunedin

65/1357

17 January 1865

Rev. R. Connebee

No	158
Date of Notice	17 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Baird	Ellen Matilda Williams
	💍 1865/8075
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 yrs	1 yr
Marriage Place	In the house of Hugh Baird, View Street Dunedin
Folio	65/1357
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Connebee

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).