1857 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840369, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 13 2024

Page 078

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31st of December 1857

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

31 August 1857

Edward Richmond
Ann Fairhall

Edward Richmond
Anne Fairbrass
💍 1857/1545

Bachelor
Widow

Groom

34 years
About 30 years

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

11 years
Upwards of 10 years

Episcopalian Church at Thorndon known as "St Paul's"

19 October 1857

The Revd Arthur Baker M. A.

No	73
Date of Notice	31 August 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Richmond	Ann Fairhall
BDM Match (82%)	Edward Richmond	Anne Fairbrass
	💍 1857/1545
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Groom
Age	34 years	About 30 years
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	11 years	Upwards of 10 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church at Thorndon known as "St Paul's"
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Baker M. A.

15th September 1857

Greenwood Halliwell
Eliza Mexted

"Issue of certificate forbidden by Father on the 19th November 1857"

Bachelor
Spinster

at private 65th Regt

30 years
20 years

Wellington
Porirua Road

About 4 years
About Three 5 years

Private residence of the Revd Mr Moir, Wellington

712

Issue of certificate forbidden by Father on the 19th November 1857

No	76
Date of Notice	15th September 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Greenwood Halliwell	Eliza Mexted
	💍 "Issue of certificate forbidden by Father on the 19th November 1857"
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	at private 65th Regt
Age	30 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Porirua Road
Length of Residence	About 4 years	About Three 5 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the Revd Mr Moir, Wellington
Folio	712
Consent	Issue of certificate forbidden by Father on the 19th November 1857
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

21st September 1857

John Lindsay Moffitt
Susannah Evelyn Wright

John Lindsay Moffitt
Susanna Evelyn Wright
💍 1857/1560

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

22 years
22 years

Wellington Terrace
Courtenay Farm

2 months
Upwards of 3 years

Episcopalian Church in Willis St known as "St Peter's"

5th October 1857

The Revd Arthur Stock B. A.

No	77
Date of Notice	21st September 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lindsay Moffitt	Susannah Evelyn Wright
BDM Match (98%)	John Lindsay Moffitt	Susanna Evelyn Wright
	💍 1857/1560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington Terrace	Courtenay Farm
Length of Residence	2 months	Upwards of 3 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church in Willis St known as "St Peter's"
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5th October 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock B. A.

12th October 1857

George Webster Osbaldiston
Fanny Ellen Wood

George Webster Osbaldiston
Fanny Ellen Wood
💍 1857/1649

Bachelor
Widow

Settler
Dressmaker

37 years
35 years

Hutt Road
Hutt Road

3 1/2 years
About 17 years

Private residence of Mr William Trotter, Hutt

12th October 1857

The Revd Jonathan Innes

No	79
Date of Notice	12th October 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Webster Osbaldiston	Fanny Ellen Wood
	💍 1857/1649
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Settler	Dressmaker
Age	37 years	35 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt Road	Hutt Road
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	About 17 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr William Trotter, Hutt
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12th October 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Jonathan Innes

19th October 1857

Robert Gardiner
Margaret Oliver

Robert Gardener
Margaret Oliver
💍 1857/1676

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Servant

25 years
22 years

Te Aro Flat
Te Aro Flat

4 years
Upwards of 2 years

Episcopalian Church in Thorndon as "St Paul's"

19th October 1857

The Revd Arthur Baker M. A.

No	80
Date of Notice	19th October 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gardiner	Margaret Oliver
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Gardener	Margaret Oliver
	💍 1857/1676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Servant
Age	25 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Te Aro Flat	Te Aro Flat
Length of Residence	4 years	Upwards of 2 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church in Thorndon as "St Paul's"
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19th October 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Baker M. A.

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).