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 17

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 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

1 October 1855

Henry Ellis
Georgine Beamish

Henry Ellis
Georgina Beamish
💍 1855/1453

Bachelor
Spinster

Trader

26
21

Shortland Street, Auckland
Auckland

55/138

Rev. A. J. Purchas

No	94
Date of Notice	1 October 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ellis	Georgine Beamish
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Ellis	Georgina Beamish
	💍 1855/1453
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trader
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Shortland Street, Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	55/138
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Purchas

2 October 1855

Richard Lefever
Hannah Reading

Richard Lefever
Hannah Reading
💍 1855/1486

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

52
45

Auckland
Auckland

8 years

Wesleyan Chapel, Auckland

55/136

No	95
Date of Notice	2 October 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Lefever	Hannah Reading
	💍 1855/1486
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	52	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence		8 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel, Auckland
Folio	55/136
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

2 October 1855

Richard Wise
Mary Anne Wilson

Richard Wine
Mary Anne Wilson
💍 1855/1570

Bachelor
Widow

Trader

49
39

Auckland
Auckland

Catholic Church, Auckland

55/123

Bishop Pompallier

No	96
Date of Notice	2 October 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Wise	Mary Anne Wilson
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Wine	Mary Anne Wilson
	💍 1855/1570
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Trader
Age	49	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio	55/123
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Bishop Pompallier

6 October 1855

Francis Edwards
Margaret Marshall Macdonald

Edward Francis
Margaret McDonald
💍 1855/1451

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

26
18

Kawau
Kawau

Wesleyan Mission House, Auckland

55/137

Peter Macdonald, father

Rev. John Whiteley

No	97
Date of Notice	6 October 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Edwards	Margaret Marshall Macdonald
BDM Match (36%)	Edward Francis	Margaret McDonald
	💍 1855/1451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Kawau	Kawau
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Mission House, Auckland
Folio	55/137
Consent	Peter Macdonald, father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Whiteley

8 October 1855

Samuel Butcher
Jane Matinat

Samuel Butcher
Jane Matemate
💍 1855/1758

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Native

37
27

Auckland
Auckland

St. Paul's Church, Auckland

55/363

Rev. J. Thatcher

No	98
Date of Notice	8 October 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Butcher	Jane Matinat
BDM Match (88%)	Samuel Butcher	Jane Matemate
	💍 1855/1758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Native
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	55/363
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Thatcher

V. Sept. Quarter

E. P. D. Laston
Maria Elizabett Ferrall

Edward Samarez Dehault Laxton
Maria Elizabeth Ferral
💍 1855/1600

3 October 1855

Rev. A. G. Sinclair

No
Date of Notice	V. Sept. Quarter
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	E. P. D. Laston	Maria Elizabett Ferrall
BDM Match (63%)	Edward Samarez Dehault Laxton	Maria Elizabeth Ferral
	💍 1855/1600
Condition
Profession
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Sinclair

V. Sept. Quarter

Isaac Knights Hinsbey
Margaret Ashby

Isaac Knights Hinsbey
Margaret Ashby
💍 1855/1679

Spinster

Servant

Auckland

1 October 1855

Revd. F. Thatcher

No
Date of Notice	V. Sept. Quarter
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Knights Hinsbey	Margaret Ashby
	💍 1855/1679
Condition		Spinster
Profession		Servant
Age
Dwelling Place		Auckland
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1855
Officiating Minister	Revd. F. Thatcher

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).