Intentions to Marry, 1858

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840370, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 025

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1858

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

401

12 February 1858

Henry Beeks
Annie Dean Williams

Henry Deeks
Annie Dean Williams
💍 1858/1151

Bachelor
Spinster

Lauer Corps. 58th Regt.

39
34

Albert Barracks Auckland
Albert Barracks Auckland

12 years
3 months

The Weslyan Church Auckland

27 February 1858

Rev. David Bruce

No	401
Date of Notice	12 February 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Beeks	Annie Dean Williams
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Deeks	Annie Dean Williams
	💍 1858/1151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lauer Corps. 58th Regt.
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Albert Barracks Auckland	Albert Barracks Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	3 months
Marriage Place	The Weslyan Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

402

18 February 1858

Thomas William Browne
Eliza Jane Horne

Thomas William Doonin
Eliza Jane Horne
💍 1858/1233

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker
Dress maker

27
19

Onehau Road
Onehau Road

11 years
11 years

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

Robert Jones, Father

8 March 1858

Rev. David Jones

No	402
Date of Notice	18 February 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Browne	Eliza Jane Horne
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas William Doonin	Eliza Jane Horne
	💍 1858/1233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker	Dress maker
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Onehau Road	Onehau Road
Length of Residence	11 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Robert Jones, Father
Date of Certificate	8 March 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jones

403

24 February 1858

William Alexander Chisholm
Jane Kinghorne

William Alexander Chisholm
Jane Kinghome
💍 1858/2118

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
28

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
6 weeks

St. Paul's Church Auckland

24 February 1858

Rev. J. F. Lland

No	403
Date of Notice	24 February 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Chisholm	Jane Kinghorne
BDM Match (93%)	William Alexander Chisholm	Jane Kinghome
	💍 1858/2118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Lland

404

24 February 1858

Owen Commons
Anne Cavanagh

Owen Cummins
Anne Cavanagh
💍 1858/1317

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

36
23

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 months

Roman Catholic Church Auckland

24 February 1858

Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

No	404
Date of Notice	24 February 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Commons	Anne Cavanagh
BDM Match (92%)	Owen Cummins	Anne Cavanagh
	💍 1858/1317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1858
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

405

8 March 1858

George Boyd
Helen Osborne

George Boyd
Helen Osborne
💍 1858/1979

Widower
Widow

Brick Builder

34
30

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
14 years

The dwelling house of George Boyd, Victoria Street Auckland

8 March 1858

Rev. Alex. McDonald

No	405
Date of Notice	8 March 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Boyd	Helen Osborne
	💍 1858/1979
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Brick Builder
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of George Boyd, Victoria Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex. McDonald

406

9 March 1858

Thomas Jeffery
Mary Robinson

Thomas Jeffery
Mary Robinson
💍 1858/2071

Widower
Spinster

Wheelwright

26
21

Albert Street, Auckland
Freemans Bay Auckland

15 years
10 years

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Auckland

9 March 1858

Rev. Robert Ward

No	406
Date of Notice	9 March 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Jeffery	Mary Robinson
	💍 1858/2071
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Albert Street, Auckland	Freemans Bay Auckland
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward

407

10 March 1858

William Rhodes Ball
Christiana Martyn Taylor

William Rhodes Ball
Christina Martyn Taylor
💍 1858/1154

Bachelor
Spinster

Agriculturist

22
22

Papakura
Auckland

14 days
14 days

Scotch Church Auckland

10 March 1858

Rev. David Bruce

No	407
Date of Notice	10 March 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rhodes Ball	Christiana Martyn Taylor
BDM Match (98%)	William Rhodes Ball	Christina Martyn Taylor
	💍 1858/1154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agriculturist
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Scotch Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

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).