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 063

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1857

Continuation on 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

31 January 1857

John Wood
Eleanor Palmer

John Wood
Eleanor Palmer
💍 1857/1008

Bachelor
Spinster

Agriculturalist

24 years
26 years

Wainuiopai
at present Hamilton Quay

4 days
11 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Wellington

January 31st 1857

John Elisha Smith, the Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wood	Eleanor Palmer
	💍 1857/1008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agriculturalist
Age	24 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Wainuiopai	at present Hamilton Quay
Length of Residence	4 days	11 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages at Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	January 31st 1857
Officiating Minister	John Elisha Smith, the Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington

5 February 1857

John Wilson
Marie Smith

John Wilson
Maria Castle
💍 1857/1592

Widower
Spinster

Mariner

33 years
18 years

Wellington
With her Father on Aurora Terrace Wellington

7 months
Upwards to 6 months

House Private residence of The Revd Armstrong in Sydney Street Wellington

Daughter of Maria Smith of Wellington

February 5th 1857

The Revd Harry Gurn Todd

No	6
Date of Notice	5 February 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wilson	Marie Smith
BDM Match (75%)	John Wilson	Maria Castle
	💍 1857/1592
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	33 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	With her Father on Aurora Terrace Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	Upwards to 6 months
Marriage Place	House Private residence of The Revd Armstrong in Sydney Street Wellington
Folio
Consent	Daughter of Maria Smith of Wellington
Date of Certificate	February 5th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Harry Gurn Todd

7 February 1857

Thomas Mountain
Ellen Burdett

Thomas John Mountain
Ellen Burdett
💍 1857/3

Bachelor
Widow

Brickkeeper

28 years
28 years

Taranaki Place Wellington
Ghuznee Street

Upwards of 2 years
Upwards of 6 years

Episcopalian Church known as St Peters Situate in Willis Street

Relict of Samuel Burdett decd

February 7th 1857

The Revd Arthur Stock fords

No	7
Date of Notice	7 February 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mountain	Ellen Burdett
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas John Mountain	Ellen Burdett
	💍 1857/3
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Brickkeeper
Age	28 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Taranaki Place Wellington	Ghuznee Street
Length of Residence	Upwards of 2 years	Upwards of 6 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as St Peters Situate in Willis Street
Folio
Consent	Relict of Samuel Burdett decd
Date of Certificate	February 7th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock fords

9 February 1857

Richard Millner
Reliza Baker

Richard Millner
Eliza Baker
💍 1857/4

Widower
Widow

Carter

About 50 years
57 years

Te Aro Flat
Evans Bay Road

17 years
Upwards of 17 years

Episcopalian Church Situate in Willis Street known as St Peters

Relict of John Thos Townsend Baker, decd

February 24th 1857

The Revd Arthur Stock Todd

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Millner	Reliza Baker
BDM Match (92%)	Richard Millner	Eliza Baker
	💍 1857/4
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carter
Age	About 50 years	57 years
Dwelling Place	Te Aro Flat	Evans Bay Road
Length of Residence	17 years	Upwards of 17 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church Situate in Willis Street known as St Peters
Folio
Consent	Relict of John Thos Townsend Baker, decd
Date of Certificate	February 24th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock Todd

10 February 1857

William Jenkins
Margaret Carmont

William Jenkins
Margaret Carmont
💍 1857/1679

Widower
Spinster

Stockholder

38 years
27 years

"Uruhi" near Waikanae
Wellington

About 8 years
About 5 years

Roman Catholic Church known as St Marys Situate on Thorndon

February 10th 1857

The Right Revd Lord Bishop Viard

No	9
Date of Notice	10 February 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jenkins	Margaret Carmont
	💍 1857/1679
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Stockholder
Age	38 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	"Uruhi" near Waikanae	Wellington
Length of Residence	About 8 years	About 5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church known as St Marys Situate on Thorndon
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	February 10th 1857
Officiating Minister	The Right Revd Lord Bishop Viard

14 February 1857

Arthur Edward Bowden
Marie Louise Tunzelmann Von Adlersphig

"Mother subsequently withdrawn - see 1857/1540 marriage to Charles James Gully"

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

20 years
21 years 1 month

Lambton Quay
Lambton Quay

14 days
14 days

Episcopalian Church known as St Paul's Situate at Thorndon

Mother subsequently withdrawn

No	10
Date of Notice	14 February 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Bowden	Marie Louise Tunzelmann Von Adlersphig
	💍 "Mother subsequently withdrawn - see 1857/1540 marriage to Charles James Gully"
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	20 years	21 years 1 month
Dwelling Place	Lambton Quay	Lambton Quay
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as St Paul's Situate at Thorndon
Folio
Consent	Mother subsequently withdrawn
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

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).