Intentions to Marry, 1866

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840378, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 491

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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

151

9 April 1866

William Shadforth
Margaret Siddens

William Shadforth
Margaret Siddons
💍 1866/4447

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
19

Hamilton Bay, Port Chalmers
Hamilton Bay, Port Chalmers

4 years
14 days

At the House of John Solomon Hamilton Bay, Port Chalmers

No person in the Colony having Authority

9 April 1866

Rev. J. F. Riemenschneider

No	151
Date of Notice	9 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Shadforth	Margaret Siddens
BDM Match (97%)	William Shadforth	Margaret Siddons
	💍 1866/4447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Hamilton Bay, Port Chalmers	Hamilton Bay, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 years	14 days
Marriage Place	At the House of John Solomon Hamilton Bay, Port Chalmers
Folio
Consent	No person in the Colony having Authority
Date of Certificate	9 April 1866
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Riemenschneider

152

14 April 1866

David Watherston
Catherine Hall

David Watherston
Catherine Hall
💍 1866/9481

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

26
22

Sec. 20 Block 7, North Harbour & Blue Skin District
Blue Skin

6 months
3 years

At the house of Peter Watherston situate on the Main North Road

88/1761

14 April 1866

Rev. William Johnstone

No	152
Date of Notice	14 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Watherston	Catherine Hall
	💍 1866/9481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Sec. 20 Block 7, North Harbour & Blue Skin District	Blue Skin
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	At the house of Peter Watherston situate on the Main North Road
Folio	88/1761
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1866
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Johnstone

153

16 April 1866

William Clark
Rebecca Ann Biddel

William Clark
Rebecca Ann Biddel
💍 1866/9508

Bachelor
Widow

Fireman

22
23

Constitution Street, Port Chalmers
Constitution Street, Port Chalmers

2 years

At the House of Isaac Clark, Constitution Street, Port Chalmers

66/1770

16 April 1866

Rev. George B. Quilty

No	153
Date of Notice	16 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clark	Rebecca Ann Biddel
	💍 1866/9508
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fireman
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Constitution Street, Port Chalmers	Constitution Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Isaac Clark, Constitution Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	66/1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1866
Officiating Minister	Rev. George B. Quilty

154

27 April 1866

William Innes
Mary Ann Hutton

William McInnes
Mary Anne Hutton
💍 1866/9631

Bachelor
Spinster

Cooper

32
21

Island Terrace, Port Chalmers
York Place, Dunedin

3 years
8 months

At the House of Robert Swan, York Place, Dunedin

66/1814

27 April 1866

Rev. James M. . Davidson

No	154
Date of Notice	27 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Innes	Mary Ann Hutton
BDM Match (90%)	William McInnes	Mary Anne Hutton
	💍 1866/9631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cooper
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Island Terrace, Port Chalmers	York Place, Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	8 months
Marriage Place	At the House of Robert Swan, York Place, Dunedin
Folio	66/1814
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1866
Officiating Minister	Rev. James M. . Davidson

155

28 April 1866

Joseph White
Mary Pountney

Joseph White
Mary Pountney
💍 1866/9484

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

23
19

Mount Pleasant, Port Chalmers
Mount Pleasant, Port Chalmers

7 days
14 days

At the Presbyterian Church Port Chalmers Port Chalmers

66/1762

no person in the Colony having Authority

28 April 1866

Rev Wm Johnstone

No	155
Date of Notice	28 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph White	Mary Pountney
	💍 1866/9484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Mount Pleasant, Port Chalmers	Mount Pleasant, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	7 days	14 days
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Church Port Chalmers Port Chalmers
Folio	66/1762
Consent	no person in the Colony having Authority
Date of Certificate	28 April 1866
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm Johnstone

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).