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 586

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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
162	20 August 1870	James Charles Braid Mary Ann Love	James Charles Braid Mary Ann Love 💍 1870/8820	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	27 21	Andersons Bay Dunedin	2 years 8 years	In St. Pauls Church, Dunedin		5 September 1870	Rev E.G. Edwards
163	22 August 1870	William Couston Fanny Bagley	William Couston Fanny Bagley 💍 1870/8379	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	31 19	Dunedin Dunedin	12 years 8 years	In the house of Mr Bagley, Feilleul St, Dunedin	Benjamin Bagley Father	22 August 1870	Rev Thomas Burns D.D.
164	22 August 1870	Frederic Joseph Kuhtze Eleanor Turvey	Frederick Joseph Kuhtze Eleanor Turvey 💍 1870/4656	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	36 18	Dunedin Dunedin	3 years 2 years	In the Baptist Church, Dunedin	Elizabeth Turvey Mother	22 August 1870	Rev J Williams
165	22 August 1870	James Grey Florence Peterson	James Grey Florence Peterson 💍 1870/8376	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	23 21	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 2 months	In the house of Peter Peterson, Maitland St, Dunedin		22 August 1870	Rev Thomas Burns D.D.
166	23 August 1870	Peter Fletcher Helen Garnet	Peter Fletcher Helen Garnet 💍 1870/8286	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	29 24	Dunedin Dunedin	1 week 2 years	In the house of Mr Oswald, Caversham		23 August 1870	Rev D Johnstone
167	23 August 1870	James Martin Elizabeth Stewart Fullerton	James Martin Elizabeth Stewart Fullarton 💍 1870/8586	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	30 28	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 12 days	In the house of Mr Morrison, Castle St, Dunedin		23 August 1870	Revd. D.M. Stuart
168	23 August 1870	John Colahan Bridget Carroll	John Colahan Bridget Carroll 💍 1870/8745	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	33 22	Port Chalmers Road Dunedin	2 years 3 years	In St Josephs Church, Dunedin		23 August 1870	Rev D Moreau
169	26 August 1870	Michael John Fleming Mary Jane Lynch	Michael John Fleming Mary Jane Lynch 💍 1870/8751	Bachelor Spinster	Boot-maker	33 19	Dunedin Dunedin	7 years 8 years	In St Josephs Church, Dunedin	Mary Ann Tippett, Mother	12 September 1870	Rev D. Moreau
170	2 September 1870	Edward George Thomas Lilly Sinclair	Edward Geo Thomas Lilly Sinclair 💍 1870/8334	Bachelor Spinster	Manager	30 25	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 5 years	In the Manse of Rev G Sutherland, Dunedin		2 September 1870	Rev G Sutherland

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

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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 1899. 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).