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 019

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

258

16 February 1857

William James Harcourt
Ann Tugwell

William James Harcourt
Ann Tugwell
💍 1857/1335

Widower
Widow

Bricklayer

49
37

Onehunga
Onehunga

8 years
8 years

St Peter's Church, Onehunga

2 March 1857

Rev. A. G. Purchas

No	258
Date of Notice	16 February 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Harcourt	Ann Tugwell
	💍 1857/1335
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	49	37
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1857
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Purchas

259

24 February 1857

James Williams
Arabella Florance

James Williams
Arabella Florance
💍 1857/1160

Widower
Spinster

Master Mariner

40
21

Princes Street, Auckland
Georges Bay, Auckland

3 years
5 years

The dwelling house of James Williams

25 February 1857

Rev. D. Bruce

No	259
Date of Notice	24 February 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Williams	Arabella Florance
	💍 1857/1160
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	40	21
Dwelling Place	Princes Street, Auckland	Georges Bay, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of James Williams
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1857
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Bruce

260

2 March 1857

John Killgour
Ellen Colledge

John Kilgour
Ellen Colledge
💍 1857/1338

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

28
15 ½

Manakau
Onehunga

9 years
8 years

St Peter's Church, Onehunga

John Colledge, Father

16 March 1857

Rev. A. G. Purchas

No	260
Date of Notice	2 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Killgour	Ellen Colledge
BDM Match (96%)	John Kilgour	Ellen Colledge
	💍 1857/1338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	28	15 ½
Dwelling Place	Manakau	Onehunga
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Onehunga
Folio
Consent	John Colledge, Father
Date of Certificate	16 March 1857
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Purchas

261

2 March 1857

Francis Rowe
Mary Trevarthen

Francis Rowe
Mary Trevarthen
💍 1857/1134

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
16 years

Wesleyan Chapel, Auckland

2 March 1857

Rev. J. A. Fletcher

No	261
Date of Notice	2 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Rowe	Mary Trevarthen
	💍 1857/1134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1857
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Fletcher

262

9 March 1857

William Ford
Agnes B. Lyon

William Good
Agnes B Lyon
💍 1857/1158

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

35
26

Albert Street, Auckland
Chapel Street, Auckland

12 years
12 months

Residence of the Rev. David Bruce, Parnell

9 March 1857

Rev. David Bruce

No	262
Date of Notice	9 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ford	Agnes B. Lyon
BDM Match (88%)	William Good	Agnes B Lyon
	💍 1857/1158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Albert Street, Auckland	Chapel Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. David Bruce, Parnell
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1857
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

263

10 March 1857

Henry Gratton
Amelia Channing

Henry Matson
Amelia Channing
💍 1857/1359

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

64
30

Brookside near Auckland
Newmarket

10 years
1 year

Remuera Church (of England)

10 March 1857

Rev. R. Burrows

No	263
Date of Notice	10 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gratton	Amelia Channing
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Matson	Amelia Channing
	💍 1857/1359
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	64	30
Dwelling Place	Brookside near Auckland	Newmarket
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Remuera Church (of England)
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1857
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Burrows

264

14 March 1857

Frederick Nutter
Eliza Heath Macdonald

Frederick Nutter
Eliza H Macdonald
💍 1857/1273

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

35
18

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
4 years

The dwelling house of the Rev. A. Macdonald, Abercrombie Street, Auckland

Alex Macdonald, Father

14 March 1857

Rev. Alex Macdonald

No	264
Date of Notice	14 March 1857
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Nutter	Eliza Heath Macdonald
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Nutter	Eliza H Macdonald
	💍 1857/1273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	35	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of the Rev. A. Macdonald, Abercrombie Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Alex Macdonald, Father
Date of Certificate	14 March 1857
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex Macdonald

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).