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 576

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 June 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
87	16 April 1870	James Marshall Mary Watt Wardrope	James Marshall Mary Watt Wardrop 💍 1870/8280	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	39 27	Tokomairiro Dunedin	3 years 3 weeks	In the manse of Rev. D. Johnstone		16 April 1870	Rev. D. Johnstone
88	16 April 1870	David Auld Margaret Elizabeth Wain	David Auld Margaret Elizabeth Wain 💍 1870/8493	Bachelor Spinster	Cab driver	24 25	Dunedin Dunedin	9 years 10 years	In the Royal Hotel Water of Leith		16 April 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart
89	16 April 1870	Nick Peter Afforring Winefred Bourke	Niels Peter Hjorring Winifred Bourke 💍 1870/4638	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	35 31	Dunedin Dunedin	3 days 5 months	In All Saints Church Dunedin		16 April 1870	Rev. H. Granger
90	18 April 1870	John Guthrie Jane Sodso	John Guthrie Jan Godso 💍 1870/3966	Widower Spinster	Sailmaker	27 18	Dunedin Dunedin	7 years 7 years	In the house of Mr James Sodso, Stafford Street Dunedin	James Sodso, father	18 April 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart
91	20 April 1870	John Morgan Jane Davidson	John Morgan Jane Davidson 💍 1870/8367	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	33 26	Port Chalmers Dunedin	6 years 7 years	In the house of James Macleod, Cargill Street Dunedin		20 April 1870	Rev. Thomas Burns D.D.
92	20 April 1870	Robert Falconer Mary Neill	Robert Morrison Falconer Mary Neil 💍 1870/8487	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	28 22	Dunedin Dunedin	3 months 1 year	In Knox Church Dunedin		20 April 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart
93	20 April 1870	William McLean Nicholas Barron	William McLean Nicholas Barron 💍 1870/8490	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	32 21	Tokomairiro Dunedin	6 years 3 months	In the house of Nicholas Barron, Duncan Street Dunedin		20 April 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart
94	23 April 1870	Peter Dippie Janet Morris	Peter Dippie Janet Morris 💍 1870/8502	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 25	Dunedin Dunedin	2 weeks 2 weeks	In the house of Alexander Dippie, George Street Dunedin		23 April 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart
95	25 April 1870	John Laing Grace Walker McAslan	John Laing Grace Walker McAsland 💍 1870/8499	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	35 20	Dunedin Dunedin	7 years 5 years	In Knox Church Dunedin	Robert McAslan, Father	25 April 1870	Rev. D. M. Stuart

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 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).