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 101

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31st December 1858

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
69	September 24th 1858	James Conall Caroline Matthews	James Costale Caroline Mathews 💍 1858/2413	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	25 years 19 years	Wellington Wellington	3 years about 4 years	The Episcopalian Church known as "St Pauls" Wellington	A. Baker, M.A. question	October 8th 1858	The Revd. A. Baker, M.A.
70	October 6th 1858	Bartholomew Lorgan Bridget Mary Ellis	Bartholomew Lorrigan Bridget Mary Ellis 💍 1859/2776	Widower Spinster	Gardener	31 years 23 years	Murphy Street Molesworth Street	2 years About 4 years	Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners St		October 28th 1858	The Revd J. P. O'Reilly
71	October 11th 1858	Mark Hebberd Louisa Bowler	Mark Kebbell Louisa Bowler 💍 1858/2419	Bachelor Spinster	Surgeon	32 years 25 years	Wellington Wellington	18 months 1 year	Episcopalian Church known as "St Pauls"		October 11th 1858	The Revd H. W. S. [UNCLEAR]
72	October 13th 1858	Thomas Coldham Williams Anne Palmer Beetham	[No matching marriage registration has been located]	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	full age about 20 years	Hutt Hutt	About 2 months About 3 years	Episcopalian Church known as "St James" Hutt	W. Beetham father	13 October 1858	The Revd J. B. Sutton
73	October 16th 1858	Robert McAlley Catherine Gilchrist	Robert McAlley Catherine Gilchrist 💍 1858/2472	Widower Spinster	Farmer	34 years 20 years	Hutt Hutt	6 years 10 months	Private residence of Robert McAlley at the Hutt		October 16th 1858	The Revd J. Thom & Co
74	16 October 1858	Ho Inia Wetere named Reimana Ho Mere Piaka	"Certificate not yet issued"	Bachelor Spinster	New Zealander (half caste) New Zealander (half caste)	19 years 15 years	Waikanae Waikanae	Many years Many years	Episcopalian Native Church at Waikanae	John Nicoll father		Certificate not yet issued
75	October 16th 1858	James John Jackson Emily Howell	James John Jackson Emily Howell 💍 1858/2469	Bachelor Spinster	Architect	21 years 21 years	Wellington Wellington	5 weeks Many years	Episcopalian Church known as "St Peters" Willis St		October 16th 1858	The Revd A. Stock, B.A.
76	October 21st 1858	William Nott Emma Martin	William Nott Emma Martin 💍 1858/2297	Widower Spinster	Farmer	40 years 25 years	Porirua Road Wellington	About 10 years About 10 years	Private residence of Mr R. Bunting, Ghuznee Street		October 21st 1858	The Revd J. Buller
77	October 28th 1858	William Henderson Mary Kenny	William Henderson Mary Kenny 💍 1858/2300	Bachelor Widow	Mariner	30 years 30 years	Wellington Wellington	2 years 3 years	Private residence of Mrs Kenny on Thorndon Flat		November 18th 1858	The Revd J. Smith
78	October 29th 1858	Michael Tuohy Honora Martin	Michael Tuohy Honorah Martin 💍 1858/2493	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Relict of J. Martin decd	37 years 40 years	Oharui Oharui	About 10 years About 2 years	Roman Catholic Chapel known as "St Marys" Wellington		October 29th 1858	Right Revd Bishop Viard
79	October 30th 1858	Thomas Prouse Margaret Dick	Thomas Prouse Margaret Dick 💍 1858/2475	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 years 16 years	Porirua Road Wainuiomata	6 weeks 11 years	Private Residence of Mr D. Dick, Wainuiomata	David Dick, Father	October 30th 1858	The Revd J. Thom

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).