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 21

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1855 Registrar John Boyle 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

120

7 December 1855

Henry Pearson
Frances Irwin

Henry Pearson
Frances Irwin
💍 1855/1636

Widower
Widow

Dealer
Dyer

51
45

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
7 years

Registrar's Office

55/400

7 December 1855

John B. Bennett, Registrar of Marriages

No	120
Date of Notice	7 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Pearson	Frances Irwin
	💍 1855/1636
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Dealer	Dyer
Age	51	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	55/400
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1855
Officiating Minister	John B. Bennett, Registrar of Marriages

121

11 December 1855

Samuel Jonkers
Eleanor Robinson

Samuel Jonkers
Eleanor Robinson
💍 1855/14

Bachelor
Spinster

Servant at William Grey Hotel

26
26

Auckland
Onehunga

4 months
8 years

All Saints Church, Howick

55/18

11 December 1855

Rev. V. Lush

No	121
Date of Notice	11 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Jonkers	Eleanor Robinson
	💍 1855/14
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Servant at William Grey Hotel
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Onehunga
Length of Residence	4 months	8 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Howick
Folio	55/18
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. Lush

122

13 December 1855

John Middleton Hamlin
Anna Maria Hamlin

John Middleton Hamlin
Anne Maria Hamlin
💍 1855/1448

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
18

Panmure
Tamaki

11 years
1 year

Tamaki Church of England

55/142

14 December 1855

Rev. Archdeacon Abraham

No	122
Date of Notice	13 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Middleton Hamlin	Anna Maria Hamlin
BDM Match (97%)	John Middleton Hamlin	Anne Maria Hamlin
	💍 1855/1448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Panmure	Tamaki
Length of Residence	11 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Tamaki Church of England
Folio	55/142
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Abraham

123

15 December 1855

John Scholes
Caroline Wotton

John Scholes
Caroline Wotton
💍 1855/1179

Widower
Widow

Brewer

35
31

Parnell
Parnell

18 months
2 years

At the dwelling house of Mr John Scholes, Parnell

55/5

15 December 1855

Rev. David Bruce

No	123
Date of Notice	15 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Scholes	Caroline Wotton
	💍 1855/1179
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Brewer
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Parnell
Length of Residence	18 months	2 years
Marriage Place	At the dwelling house of Mr John Scholes, Parnell
Folio	55/5
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

124

16 December 1855

George Bush Hair
Clara Wiffin

George Bush Hair
Clara Wiffen
💍 1855/1688

Widower
Spinster

Watchmaker

47
36

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
3 months

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

55/379

18 December 1855

Rev. F. Thatcher

No	124
Date of Notice	16 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bush Hair	Clara Wiffin
BDM Match (96%)	George Bush Hair	Clara Wiffen
	💍 1855/1688
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	55/379
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Thatcher

125

18 December 1855

John Wallace
Agnes Mitchell

John Wallace
Agnes Mitchell
💍 1855/1182

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

26
32

Papatoetoe
Auckland

14 years
6 years

Dwelling house of Archibald Clark, Shortland Street, Auckland

55/6

18 December 1855

Rev. David Bruce

No	125
Date of Notice	18 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wallace	Agnes Mitchell
	💍 1855/1182
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Papatoetoe	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Archibald Clark, Shortland Street, Auckland
Folio	55/6
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

126

21 December 1855

Alexander Mackey
Margaret Henderson

Alexander MacKay
Margaret Henderson
💍 1856/1073

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

40
32

North Shore
North Shore

16 years
18 months

At the dwelling house of Alexander Macky, North Shore

56/67

21 December 1855

Rev. Davis Bruce

No	126
Date of Notice	21 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mackey	Margaret Henderson
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander MacKay	Margaret Henderson
	💍 1856/1073
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	North Shore	North Shore
Length of Residence	16 years	18 months
Marriage Place	At the dwelling house of Alexander Macky, North Shore
Folio	56/67
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. Davis Bruce

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).