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 635

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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

28 September 1872

William Hughes
Harriet Hanford

William Hughes
Harriet Ann Hansford
💍 1872/9077

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
17

George Street Port Chalmers
Cavers Bay Port Chalrs

10 yrs
4 yrs

Masonic Hall

721

Thomas Hanford, Father

2 October 1872

Rev. Thos. L. Stanley

No	151
Date of Notice	28 September 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hughes	Harriet Hanford
BDM Match (88%)	William Hughes	Harriet Ann Hansford
	💍 1872/9077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	George Street Port Chalmers	Cavers Bay Port Chalrs
Length of Residence	10 yrs	4 yrs
Marriage Place	Masonic Hall
Folio	721
Consent	Thomas Hanford, Father
Date of Certificate	2 October 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. L. Stanley

152

5 October 1872

Alexander Urquhart
Isabella Mulheron

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Servant

30
18

Works Port Chal.
Constitution Street Port Chal

5 yrs
2 yrs

Church for Scotland

72545

Ed. S. Gilbert, Father

8 October 1872

Rev. Wm Johnstone

No	152
Date of Notice	5 October 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Urquhart	Isabella Mulheron
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Servant
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Works Port Chal.	Constitution Street Port Chal
Length of Residence	5 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Church for Scotland
Folio	72545
Consent	Ed. S. Gilbert, Father
Date of Certificate	8 October 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Johnstone

153

17 November 1872

Robert Paterson
Susanna Gilbert

Robert Paterson
Mariana Gilbert
💍 1872/9095

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

44
18

Constitution Street Port Chalrs
do

30 days
do

House of Mr Edwd Gilbert

72/372

Ed. S. Gilbert, Father

19 November 1872

Rev. Wm Johnstone

No	153
Date of Notice	17 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Paterson	Susanna Gilbert
BDM Match (83%)	Robert Paterson	Mariana Gilbert
	💍 1872/9095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	44	18
Dwelling Place	Constitution Street Port Chalrs	do
Length of Residence	30 days	do
Marriage Place	House of Mr Edwd Gilbert
Folio	72/372
Consent	Ed. S. Gilbert, Father
Date of Certificate	19 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Johnstone

154

18 November 1872

Joseph Holland
Isabella Sim

Joseph Holland
Isabella Sime
💍 1872/3972

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

29
19

Dunedin
do

12 mnths
do

House of Mr Wm Sim

72/232

John Sim, Father

20 November 1872

Rev. Wm Johnstone

No	154
Date of Notice	18 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Holland	Isabella Sim
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Holland	Isabella Sime
	💍 1872/3972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	do
Length of Residence	12 mnths	do
Marriage Place	House of Mr Wm Sim
Folio	72/232
Consent	John Sim, Father
Date of Certificate	20 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Johnstone

155

19 November 1872

John Edward Saunders
Catherine Gareth

John Edward Saunders
Catherine Barrett
💍 1872/8474

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
21

Hampden Street Port Chal
do

2 yrs
do

House of Mr Frederick Keeseder

72/304

Rev. James Maxwell

No	155
Date of Notice	19 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Saunders	Catherine Gareth
BDM Match (91%)	John Edward Saunders	Catherine Barrett
	💍 1872/8474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Hampden Street Port Chal	do
Length of Residence	2 yrs	do
Marriage Place	House of Mr Frederick Keeseder
Folio	72/304
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell

156

20 December 1872

Samuel Brian Gibbon
Emma Henrietta Mason

Samuel Brian Gibson
Anna Henrietta Mason
💍 1872/8939

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
20

Cavarshan, Dunedin
Leebrah Bay Port Chalrs

2 yrs
10 yrs

St. Paul's Church Dunedin

George William Mason, Father

December 1872

Rev. E. G. Edwards

No	156
Date of Notice	20 December 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Brian Gibbon	Emma Henrietta Mason
BDM Match (90%)	Samuel Brian Gibson	Anna Henrietta Mason
	💍 1872/8939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Cavarshan, Dunedin	Leebrah Bay Port Chalrs
Length of Residence	2 yrs	10 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Dunedin
Folio
Consent	George William Mason, Father
Date of Certificate	December 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Edwards

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).