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 13

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1855

George Elliott
Elizabeth Davey

George Elliott
Elizabeth Davey
💍 1855/1163

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer

25
20

Auckland
Auckland

17 days
12 years

St. Paul's Church, Auckland

55/360

Elizabeth Elliott, Mother

2 July 1855

Revd. J. F. Lloyd

No	70
Date of Notice	2 July 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Elliott	Elizabeth Davey
	💍 1855/1163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	17 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	55/360
Consent	Elizabeth Elliott, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 July 1855
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. F. Lloyd

3 July 1855

John Whewell
Sarah Russell

John Whewell
Sarah Russell
💍 1855/1462

Bachelor
Spinster

Wesleyan Minister

28
21 years 9 months

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
14 years

Dwelling house of Mr Thos Russell, Symonds St, Auckland

55/147

3 July 1855

Rev. John Whiteley

No	71
Date of Notice	3 July 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Whewell	Sarah Russell
	💍 1855/1462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wesleyan Minister
Age	28	21 years 9 months
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr Thos Russell, Symonds St, Auckland
Folio	55/147
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Whiteley

4 July 1855

William McCutchen
Sarah Divniey

William McCutchen
Sarah Devney
💍 1855/1430

Widower
Widow

Labourer

49
36

Onehunga
Auckland

8 years
4 months

Roman Catholic Church, Auckland

4 July 1855

Right Revd. Bishop Pompallier

No	72
Date of Notice	4 July 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McCutchen	Sarah Divniey
BDM Match (92%)	William McCutchen	Sarah Devney
	💍 1855/1430
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	49	36
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1855
Officiating Minister	Right Revd. Bishop Pompallier

5 July 1855

Denis Comerford
Mary Anne McCurt

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Widow

Groom
Dressmaker

34
34

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
13 years

Dwelling house of Mary Anne McCurt Chancery Lane Auckland

No Folio Number

5 July 1855

Rev. David Bruce

No	73
Date of Notice	5 July 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Comerford	Mary Anne McCurt
BDM Match (7%)
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Groom	Dressmaker
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mary Anne McCurt Chancery Lane Auckland
Folio	No Folio Number
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

[V. June Quarter]

Frederick Woollams
Margaret Kearns

Frederick Woollams
Margaret Kearns
💍 1855/1606

55/166

28 August 1863

Revd. M. Clery

No
Date of Notice	[V. June Quarter]
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Woollams	Margaret Kearns
	💍 1855/1606
Condition
Profession
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	55/166
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd. M. Clery

[V. June Quarter]

Charles Smith
Johanna Anson

Charles Smith
Johanna Anson
💍 1855/1597

55/163

11 July 1863

Revd. A. G. Purchas

No
Date of Notice	[V. June Quarter]
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Smith	Johanna Anson
	💍 1855/1597
Condition
Profession
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	55/163
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd. A. G. Purchas

[V. June Quarter]

Samuel Newton
Bridget Quinlan

Samuel Newton
Bridget Quinlan
💍 1855/1222

55/20

13 July 1863

Revd. V. Lush

No
Date of Notice	[V. June Quarter]
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Newton	Bridget Quinlan
	💍 1855/1222
Condition
Profession
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	55/20
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd. V. Lush

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).