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 468

District of Tokomairiro Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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 January 1865

Henry Francis May
Matilda Sarah Johnston

Henry Francis May
Matilda Sarah Johnson
💍 1865/9391

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Housekeeper

39
30

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

4 Days
4 Days

English Church Tokomairiro

65/1821

5 January 1865

Rev. R. L. Stanford

No	94
Date of Notice	5 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Francis May	Matilda Sarah Johnston
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Francis May	Matilda Sarah Johnson
	💍 1865/9391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Housekeeper
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	4 Days	4 Days
Marriage Place	English Church Tokomairiro
Folio	65/1821
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Stanford

5 January 1865

Peter Campbell
Elizabeth Matthews

Peter Campbell
Elizabeth Matthew
💍 1865/9040

Widower
Spinster

Boatman
Servant

50
33

Taieri Beach Tokomairiro
Taieri Ferry Tokomairiro

3 years
7 Months

In the House of Mr [unclear] Sinclair Waihola Tokomairiro

65/1698

5 January 1865

Rev. John Allan

No	95
Date of Notice	5 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Campbell	Elizabeth Matthews
BDM Match (97%)	Peter Campbell	Elizabeth Matthew
	💍 1865/9040
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boatman	Servant
Age	50	33
Dwelling Place	Taieri Beach Tokomairiro	Taieri Ferry Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	3 years	7 Months
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr [unclear] Sinclair Waihola Tokomairiro
Folio	65/1698
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Allan

28 January 1865

David Chalmers
Rebecca Black

David Chalmers
Rebecca Black
💍 1865/9616

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
Servant

26
22

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

51/2 years
2 years

In the House of Mr Lewis Dawson Tokomairiro

65/1909

28 January 1865

Rev. Alexander B. Todd

No	96
Date of Notice	28 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Chalmers	Rebecca Black
	💍 1865/9616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	Servant
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	51/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr Lewis Dawson Tokomairiro
Folio	65/1909
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander B. Todd

28 January 1865

Thomas Mills
Mary McLaren

Thomas Mills
Mary McLaren
💍 1865/9352

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Servant

26
23

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

4 years
1 Month

In the House of Mr Robert Mills Tokomairiro

65/1807

28 January 1865

Rev. Alexander B. Todd

No	97
Date of Notice	28 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mills	Mary McLaren
	💍 1865/9352
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Servant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	4 years	1 Month
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr Robert Mills Tokomairiro
Folio	65/1807
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander B. Todd

31 January 1865

Mark Charles Gatchell
Amelia Ann Hutton

Mark Charles Gatchell
Amelia Ann Hutton
💍 1865/8777

Bachelor
Widow

farmer

30
22

Tokomairiro

1 1/2 year
15 years

In the Manse of Rev Thomas Burns D.D. Dunedin

65/1605

31 January 1865

Rev. Thomas Burns D.D

No	98
Date of Notice	31 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Charles Gatchell	Amelia Ann Hutton
	💍 1865/8777
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	farmer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	1 1/2 year	15 years
Marriage Place	In the Manse of Rev Thomas Burns D.D. Dunedin
Folio	65/1605
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Burns D.D

7 February 1865

John Binnie
Anne Hanley

John Binnie
Ann Harvey
💍 1865/9394

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Dressmaker

29
26

Tokomairiro
Tokomairiro

3 Days
7 Weeks

The English Parsonage Tokomairiro

65/1822

7 February 1865

Rev. R. L. Stanford

No	99
Date of Notice	7 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Binnie	Anne Hanley
BDM Match (86%)	John Binnie	Ann Harvey
	💍 1865/9394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Dressmaker
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Tokomairiro	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	3 Days	7 Weeks
Marriage Place	The English Parsonage Tokomairiro
Folio	65/1822
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Stanford

100

7 February 1865

Edward Thomas Gillon
Isabella Jackson Miller

Edward Thomas Gillon
Isabella Jackson Miller
💍 1865/9397

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

23
22

Christ-Church
Tokomairiro

3 years
1 year

Christ-Church Tokomairiro

65/1823

7 February 1865

Rev. R. L. Stanford

No	100
Date of Notice	7 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Gillon	Isabella Jackson Miller
	💍 1865/9397
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Christ-Church	Tokomairiro
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Christ-Church Tokomairiro
Folio	65/1823
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Stanford

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).