Intentions to Marry, 1872

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840384, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 629

District of Port Chalmers 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

1 February 1872

James Bird
Catherine Jackson

James Purdie
Catherine Jackson
💍 1872/9083

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

29
18

Sawyer Harbor District
Port Chalmers

4 years
8 years

House of John Jackson, Grey Street Port Chalmers

72/2317

John Jackson, father

6 February 1872

Rev. Wm Johnstone

No	1
Date of Notice	1 February 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bird	Catherine Jackson
BDM Match (83%)	James Purdie	Catherine Jackson
	💍 1872/9083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Sawyer Harbor District	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	House of John Jackson, Grey Street Port Chalmers
Folio	72/2317
Consent	John Jackson, father
Date of Certificate	6 February 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Johnstone

9 February 1872

Thomas Carrington
Jane Hanks

Thos Carrington
Jane Hawke
💍 1872/8486

Bachelor
Spinster

30
32

Sawyer's Bay
Dunedin

5 yrs
5 [UNCLEAR]

Presbyterian Church, Dunedin

72/2308

14 February 1872

Rev. J. S. Smalley

No	2
Date of Notice	9 February 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Carrington	Jane Hanks
BDM Match (84%)	Thos Carrington	Jane Hawke
	💍 1872/8486
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Sawyer's Bay	Dunedin
Length of Residence	5 yrs	5 [UNCLEAR]
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dunedin
Folio	72/2308
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Smalley

10 February 1872

John Wm Cook
Elizabeth Grace Summerfield

John McCombe
Elizabeth Grace Summerell
💍 1872/8498

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

20
17

Burnie Street Port Chalmers
do

2 yrs
do

Registrar Office Port Chalmers

72/2312

Sampson Summerfield, father

14 February 1872

The Registrar J. Morrison

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wm Cook	Elizabeth Grace Summerfield
BDM Match (69%)	John McCombe	Elizabeth Grace Summerell
	💍 1872/8498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Burnie Street Port Chalmers	do
Length of Residence	2 yrs	do
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Port Chalmers
Folio	72/2312
Consent	Sampson Summerfield, father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1872
Officiating Minister	The Registrar J. Morrison

21 February 1872

Saml McNeill
Jessie Randall

David McNicoll
Jessie Randall
💍 1872/8489

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
28

Wellington
Constitution Street Port Chalmers

[UNCLEAR]
15 yrs

Presbyterian Church Wellington

72/2309

28 February 1872

Rev. J. S. Smalley

No	4
Date of Notice	21 February 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Saml McNeill	Jessie Randall
BDM Match (75%)	David McNicoll	Jessie Randall
	💍 1872/8489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Constitution Street Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	[UNCLEAR]	15 yrs
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Wellington
Folio	72/2309
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Smalley

27 February 1872

Leonard Gilmour
Joanna Paton

David Gilmour Stephens
Joanna Paton
💍 1872/9086

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright

27
21

Magpie Street Port Chalmers
Lady Street Port Chalmers

3 yrs
7 yrs

at the residence of Mrs. Drummond

72/2318

Rev. Wm Johnstone

No	5
Date of Notice	27 February 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Gilmour	Joanna Paton
BDM Match (66%)	David Gilmour Stephens	Joanna Paton
	💍 1872/9086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Magpie Street Port Chalmers	Lady Street Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 yrs	7 yrs
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mrs. Drummond
Folio	72/2318
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Johnstone

7 March 1872

Andrew McKinnion
Christina Martin

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright

37
21

Burnie Street Port Chalmers
do

12 years
do

at the Residence of Mr. Brook

72/2319

14 March 1872

Rev. Wm Johnstone

No	6
Date of Notice	7 March 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew McKinnion	Christina Martin
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Burnie Street Port Chalmers	do
Length of Residence	12 years	do
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Mr. Brook
Folio	72/2319
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Johnstone

9 March 1872

Erasmus Inchcliffe
Daisy Eliza Brook

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

24
24

Port Chalmers
do

14 days
14 days

at the residence of Mr. Brook Sawyer's Bay District

72/2310

19 March 1872

Rev. James Armitage

No	7
Date of Notice	9 March 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Erasmus Inchcliffe	Daisy Eliza Brook
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	do
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr. Brook Sawyer's Bay District
Folio	72/2310
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Armitage

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).