Intentions to Marry, 1870

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840382, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 571

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1870

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
26	1 February 1870	James Cameron Maria Thornton	James Cameron Maria Thornton 💍 1870/8292	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	33 28	Dunedin Dunedin	8 years 2 years	Smith Street Dunedin		1 February 1870	Rev A.R. Fitchell
27	1 February 1870	George Nelson Janet Simlair Mitchell	George Nelson Janet Sinclair McNiel 💍 1870/8289	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	30 31	Dunedin Dunedin	8 years 2 years	In the Manse of the Rev. A.R. Fitchell		1 February 1870	Rev A.R. Fitchell
28	1 February 1870	Arthur Rollins Eliza Reid	Arthur Rollins Eliza Reid 💍 1870/8313	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 36	Dunedin Caversham	6 years 3 years	In the house of Charles Begg, Princes Street Dunedin		16 February 1870	Rev George Sutherland
29	2 February 1870	William Newman Lois Preston	William Newman Lois Preston 💍 1870/8790	Widower Widow	Miner	37 30	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 5 weeks	St Pauls Church Dunedin		2 February 1870	Rev. E. G. Edwards
30	2 February 1870	Michael James Geerin Catherine Cane	Michael James Geerin Catherine Kane 💍 1870/8685	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 20	Dunedin Dunedin	17 years 2 years	St Josephs Church Dunedin	No person to give consent	2 February 1870	Rev. F. Moreau
31	4 February 1870	Jose Beckensall Sarah Elizabeth Robinson	Joses Beckenhall Sarah Elizabeth Robinson 💍 1870/8310	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	34 24	Dunedin Dunedin	3 years 7 years	In the Manse of the Rev. J. Sutherland		4 February 1870	Rev. J. Sutherland
32	4 February 1870	James Mclean Bridget Dougherty	James McLean Bridget Docharty 💍 1870/8415	Bachelor Spinster	Ploughman	30 23	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 3 days	Knox Church Dunedin		4 February 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart
33	4 February 1870	David Anderson Barbara Raeburn	David Anderson Barbara Raeburn 💍 1870/4614	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	21 16	Portobello Portobello	12 yrs 2 weeks	In the house of Mr. Smith, Broad Bay Peninsula	Ellen Smith, Mother	4 February 1870	Rev. A. Greig
34	5 February 1870	John Iveson Mary Ann Amelia Jago	John Iveson Mary Ann Amelia Jago 💍 1870/8418	Bachelor Spinster	Coach proprietor	33 22	West Taieri Dunedin	7 yrs 2 yrs	In the house of West Taieri Mr. Hannah, Seaview house Dunedin		5 February 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).