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 067

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1857

Continuation of the District of Wellington

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

19 March 1857

Robert Benett
Ellen Jane Pound

Robert Barrett
Ellen Jane Venus
💍 1857/1673

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Servant

22 years
22 years

Willis Street, Wellington
Hawkesbury Street, Wellington

About 2 years
Upwards of 18 months

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

March 19th 1857

The Revd Arthur Baker M.A. for

No	29
Date of Notice	19 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Benett	Ellen Jane Pound
BDM Match (74%)	Robert Barrett	Ellen Jane Venus
	💍 1857/1673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Servant
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Willis Street, Wellington	Hawkesbury Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	About 2 years	Upwards of 18 months
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as "St Paul's" situate at Thorndon
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	March 19th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Baker M.A. for

23 March 1857

George Featherston
Janet Featherston Coutie

George Washington Schwartz
Janet Featherston Coutie
💍 1857/7

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

24 years
[UNCLEAR] years

Wellington
Cuba Street, Wellington

18 months
Upwards of 15 years

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

Daughter of David & Janet Coutie, of Haw[UNCLEAR]

March 23rd 1857

The Revd Arthur Stock for

No	30
Date of Notice	23 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Featherston	Janet Featherston Coutie
BDM Match (71%)	George Washington Schwartz	Janet Featherston Coutie
	💍 1857/7
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	24 years	[UNCLEAR] years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Cuba Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	Upwards of 15 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as "St Peter's" in Willis Street
Folio
Consent	Daughter of David & Janet Coutie, of Haw[UNCLEAR]
Date of Certificate	March 23rd 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock for

24 March 1857

Donald Campbell
Sarah McCormack

Donald Campbell
Sarah McCormick
💍 1857/1613

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28 years
24 years

Wellington
Bolton Street, Wellington

Three days
About 6 months

Private residence of Mr William Widdop, in Wellington

712

March 24th 1857

The Revd James Buller for

No	31
Date of Notice	24 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Campbell	Sarah McCormack
BDM Match (97%)	Donald Campbell	Sarah McCormick
	💍 1857/1613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Bolton Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	Three days	About 6 months
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr William Widdop, in Wellington
Folio	712
Consent
Date of Certificate	March 24th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd James Buller for

26 March 1857

Robert Grant
Margaret Sutherland

Robert Grant
Margaret Sutherland
💍 1857/970

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Servant

29 years
21 years

Wairarapa
Willis Street, Wellington

3 days 2 months

Private residence of Mr Alexander Sutherland, authorized Agent

March 31 1857

The Revd John Moir for

No	32
Date of Notice	26 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Grant	Margaret Sutherland
	💍 1857/970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Servant
Age	29 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wairarapa	Willis Street, Wellington
Length of Residence		3 days 2 months
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr Alexander Sutherland, authorized Agent
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	March 31 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd John Moir for

26 March 1857

Donald Campbell
Sarah McCormack

Donald Campbell
Sarah McCormick
💍 1857/1613

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28 years
24 years

Hamilton
Bolton Street, Wellington

2 days
7 days About 6 months

Private residence of Adam [UNCLEAR] in Willis Street

March 26th 1857

The Revd John [UNCLEAR] Buller for

No	33
Date of Notice	26 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Campbell	Sarah McCormack
BDM Match (97%)	Donald Campbell	Sarah McCormick
	💍 1857/1613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Bolton Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	2 days	7 days About 6 months
Marriage Place	Private residence of Adam [UNCLEAR] in Willis Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	March 26th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd John [UNCLEAR] Buller for

27 March 1857

Richard Collins
Caroline Elizabeth Northwood

Richard Collins
Caroline Elizabeth Northwood
💍 1857/1519

Bachelor
Widow

Stockholder

29 years
27 years

Wairarapa
Wellington

4 days
2 months

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

Relict of the late Richard Northwood deceased

March 27th 1857

The Revd Arthur Baker M.A. for

No	34
Date of Notice	27 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Collins	Caroline Elizabeth Northwood
	💍 1857/1519
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Stockholder
Age	29 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Wairarapa	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as "St Paul's" situate at Thorndon
Folio
Consent	Relict of the late Richard Northwood deceased
Date of Certificate	March 27th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Baker M.A. for

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).