Intentions to Marry, 1855 (partial)

Reference: Alexander Turnbull Library fMS-194

This document only includes a partial set of Intention to Marry records for 1855, relating to the Auckland and Otago districts. Unlike the registers at Archives NZ, this document does not consist of the original returns sent to the Registrar, but a poor quality photocopy of the original returns.

Imaged by Luke at the Alexander Turnbull Library in December 2024.

Page 11

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1855 Registrar John B. Bennett

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

11 June 1855

John O'Hara
Ellen McGuire

John O'Hara
Ellen McGuire
💍 1855/1412

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Servant

32
21

Wakefield St, Auckland
Hobson Street, Auckland

10 years
8 months

St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Auckland

55/116

11 June 1855

Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

No	57
Date of Notice	11 June 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John O'Hara	Ellen McGuire
	💍 1855/1412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Servant
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Wakefield St, Auckland	Hobson Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio	55/116
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1855
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

14 June 1855

John Eric Craig
Charlotte Gilberd

John Eric Craig
Charlotte Gilberd
💍 1855/1204

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

27
26

Freeman's Bay
Penicro Street, Auckland

55/13

14 June 1855

Rev David Bruce

No	58
Date of Notice	14 June 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Eric Craig	Charlotte Gilberd
	💍 1855/1204
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Freeman's Bay	Penicro Street, Auckland
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	55/13
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev David Bruce

14 June 1855

Hugh Mullen
Mary Letson

Hugh Mullen
Mary Letson
💍 1855/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner(First Mate of the Boat John Scott)
Servant

25
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks

Scotch Church, Auckland

55/12

14 June 1855

Rev. David Bruce

No	59
Date of Notice	14 June 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Mullen	Mary Letson
	💍 1855/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner(First Mate of the Boat John Scott)	Servant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Scotch Church, Auckland
Folio	55/12
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

59*

15 June 1855

Hugh Mullen
Mary Letson

Hugh Mullen
Mary Letson
💍 1855/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner (First Mate of the Boat John Scott)
Servant

25
19

Auckland
Auckland

3 weeks
5 weeks

house of Mr. Elgar, Short Street, Auckland

55/12

15 June 1855

Rev. David Bruce

No	59*
Date of Notice	15 June 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Mullen	Mary Letson
	💍 1855/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner (First Mate of the Boat John Scott)	Servant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	house of Mr. Elgar, Short Street, Auckland
Folio	55/12
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

15 June 1855

Frederick Atkinson
Harriet Kenyon

Frederick Atkinson
Harriet Kenyon
💍 1855/1676

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

24
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

55/375

15 June 1855

Rev. J. Thatcher

No	60
Date of Notice	15 June 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Atkinson	Harriet Kenyon
	💍 1855/1676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	55/375
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Thatcher

16 June 1855

William Dover
Agnes Jackson

William Dover
Agnes Jackson
💍 1855/1700

Bachelor
Widow

Fruiterer

30
37

Parnell
Parnell

16 months

St. Barnabas Church, Parnell

55/383

16 June 1855

Rev. J. A. Kissling

No	61
Date of Notice	16 June 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dover	Agnes Jackson
	💍 1855/1700
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	30	37
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Parnell
Length of Residence	16 months
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas Church, Parnell
Folio	55/383
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kissling

16 June 1855

James Eckford
Sarah Gossox

James Eckford
Sarah Gossox
💍 1855/1219

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

22
19

Henderson's Mill
Auckland

10 weeks
5 years

Primitive Methodist Chapel Auckland

55/19

No person in the Colony having authority

16 June 1855

Rev. R. Ward

No	62
Date of Notice	16 June 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Eckford	Sarah Gossox
	💍 1855/1219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Henderson's Mill	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel Auckland
Folio	55/19
Consent	No person in the Colony having authority
Date of Certificate	16 June 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Ward

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 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).