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 094

District of [unknown] Quarter ending 30 June 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

29 May 1858

John Yarks
Martha Barket

John Starks
Martha Birket
💍 1858/2445

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
19

Te Aro
Te Aro

1 year
2 years

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

15 June 1858

Rev. A. Stock and others

No	40
Date of Notice	29 May 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Yarks	Martha Barket
BDM Match (87%)	John Starks	Martha Birket
	💍 1858/2445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Te Aro	Te Aro
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church in Willis Street known as "St. Peter's"
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Stock and others

2 June 1858

James Kerr Moore
Mary Anne Constantine

James Kerr Moore
Mary Ann Constantine
💍 1858/2448

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

26
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 weeks
6 months

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

19 June 1858

The Rev. A. Hock and others

No	41
Date of Notice	2 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kerr Moore	Mary Anne Constantine
BDM Match (98%)	James Kerr Moore	Mary Ann Constantine
	💍 1858/2448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 weeks	6 months
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church known as "St. Peter's" in Willis St.
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1858
Officiating Minister	The Rev. A. Hock and others

9 June 1858

David Carswell
Jane Miller

David Carsewell
Jane Miller
💍 1858/2347

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
1 year

At the private Residence of Robert Miller in Cuba St.

June 1858

The Rev. J. Moir and others

No	42
Date of Notice	9 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Carswell	Jane Miller
BDM Match (97%)	David Carsewell	Jane Miller
	💍 1858/2347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	At the private Residence of Robert Miller in Cuba St.
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	June 1858
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. Moir and others

11 June 1858

William Carswell
Margaret Orrock

William Carsewell
Margaret Onick
💍 1858/2350

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

20
26

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
0 days

Private residence of Mr. J. Carswell, Daniell St.

11 June 1858

The Rev. J. Moir and others

No	43
Date of Notice	11 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Carswell	Margaret Orrock
BDM Match (87%)	William Carsewell	Margaret Onick
	💍 1858/2350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	20	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	0 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. J. Carswell, Daniell St.
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1858
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. Moir and others

11 June 1858

George Watson
Sarah Rosina Thompson

George Watson
Sarah Rosena Thompson
💍 1858/2294

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

30
31

Lambton Quay
Cuba Street

About 3 years
14 days

Wesleyan Chapel in Manners St.

July 1858

The Rev. J. Bullep and others

No	44
Date of Notice	11 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Watson	Sarah Rosina Thompson
BDM Match (98%)	George Watson	Sarah Rosena Thompson
	💍 1858/2294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Lambton Quay	Cuba Street
Length of Residence	About 3 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel in Manners St.
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 1858
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. Bullep and others

12 June 1858

George Beech
Mary Ann Martin

George Beech
Mary Anne Martin
💍 1858/2380

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
20

Ohariu Valley
Ohariu Valley

3 weeks
upwards of 3 years

In the Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners St. known as "St. Mary's"

12 June 1858

The Rev. J. of P. O'Reilly and others

No	45
Date of Notice	12 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Beech	Mary Ann Martin
BDM Match (97%)	George Beech	Mary Anne Martin
	💍 1858/2380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Ohariu Valley	Ohariu Valley
Length of Residence	3 weeks	upwards of 3 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners St. known as "St. Mary's"
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1858
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. of P. O'Reilly and others

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).