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 22

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1855

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

127

24 December 1855

Thomas Fagan
Mary Coyle

Thomas Fagan
Mary Coyle
💍 1855/1436

Bachelor
Spinster

Shingler
Servant

25
38

Albert Street, Auckland
West Queen Street, Auckland

14 years
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Auckland

55/126

24 December 1855

Rev. D. McDonald

No	127
Date of Notice	24 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Fagan	Mary Coyle
	💍 1855/1436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shingler	Servant
Age	25	38
Dwelling Place	Albert Street, Auckland	West Queen Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	14 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio	55/126
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. McDonald

128

26 December 1855

Henry Oldham
Sophia Adelaide Durbridge

Henry Oldham
Sophia Adelaide Durbridge
💍 1855/1167

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
19

Panmure
Panmure

12 months
9 years

Church of England, Panmure

55/1

Charles Durbridge, father

26 December 1855

Rev. Robt Carter

No	128
Date of Notice	26 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Oldham	Sophia Adelaide Durbridge
	💍 1855/1167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Panmure	Panmure
Length of Residence	12 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Panmure
Folio	55/1
Consent	Charles Durbridge, father
Date of Certificate	26 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt Carter

129

27 December 1855

Robert Campbell
Isabella Mackay

Robert Campbell
Isabella McKay
💍 1855/1516

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

28
22

Albert Street, Auckland
West Queen Street, Auckland

18 months
20 months

Dwelling house of Capt McKenzie, Eliazbeth Street, Auckland

55/151

27 December 1855

Rev. Norman McLeod

No	129
Date of Notice	27 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Campbell	Isabella Mackay
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Campbell	Isabella McKay
	💍 1855/1516
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Albert Street, Auckland	West Queen Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	18 months	20 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Capt McKenzie, Eliazbeth Street, Auckland
Folio	55/151
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. Norman McLeod

130

17 December 1855

John Gregory
Elizabeth Curran

John Gregory
Elizabeth Carran
💍 1856/1078

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
18

Mahurangi
Mahurangi

18 months
18 months

at the dwelling House of Mr James Carran, Mahurangi

56/69

Jane Carran, mother

20 December 1855

Rev. David Bruce

No	130
Date of Notice	17 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gregory	Elizabeth Curran
BDM Match (97%)	John Gregory	Elizabeth Carran
	💍 1856/1078
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Mahurangi	Mahurangi
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	at the dwelling House of Mr James Carran, Mahurangi
Folio	56/69
Consent	Jane Carran, mother
Date of Certificate	20 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

131

31 December 1855

John Henry
Jane Parr

John Henry
Jane Parr
💍 1856/976

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Dealer

30
22

West Queen Street, Auckland
Titirangi

2 1/2 years
18 Months

Dwelling House of Mr Thos Parr, Titirangi

56/35

31 December 1855

Rev. J. H. Fletcher

No	131
Date of Notice	31 December 1855
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry	Jane Parr
	💍 1856/976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Dealer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	West Queen Street, Auckland	Titirangi
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	18 Months
Marriage Place	Dwelling House of Mr Thos Parr, Titirangi
Folio	56/35
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1855
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Fletcher

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).