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 034

District of Auckland 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

444

16 June 1858

Charles Henry Powell
Lucinda Catherine Noone

Charles Henry Powell
Lucinda Noone
💍 1858/2053

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent

29
22

Onehunga
Onehunga

4 days
4 days

St. Peter's Church, Onehunga

16 June 1858

Rev. A. J. Purchas

No	444
Date of Notice	16 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Powell	Lucinda Catherine Noone
BDM Match (78%)	Charles Henry Powell	Lucinda Noone
	💍 1858/2053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Purchas

445

18 June 1858

Edward Hammond
Susan Menary

Edward Hammond
Susan Menary
💍 1858/1212

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
22

North Shore
North Shore

5 1/2 years
6 weeks

Church of England School House, North Shore

No	445
Date of Notice	18 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Hammond	Susan Menary
	💍 1858/1212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	North Shore	North Shore
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England School House, North Shore
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

446

21 June 1858

Michel Bucket
Mary Cossel

Michael Bucket
Mary Copel
💍 1858/1329

Bachelor
Spinster

Brick-maker

27
22

Frenchman's Bush
Frenchman's Bush

2 months
12 months

Roman Catholic Church Auckland

21 June 1858

Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

No	446
Date of Notice	21 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michel Bucket	Mary Cossel
BDM Match (87%)	Michael Bucket	Mary Copel
	💍 1858/1329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brick-maker
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Frenchman's Bush	Frenchman's Bush
Length of Residence	2 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1858
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

447

21 June 1858

Elwin Brodie Dickson
Emma Hill

Elwin Brodie Dickson
Emma Hill
💍 1858/1236

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Colonial Secretary's Office

30
37

Nelson Street, Auckland
Nelson Street, Auckland

2 years
4 years

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

No	447
Date of Notice	21 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elwin Brodie Dickson	Emma Hill
	💍 1858/1236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Colonial Secretary's Office
Age	30	37
Dwelling Place	Nelson Street, Auckland	Nelson Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

448

22 June 1858

Charles Tothill
Sophia Maberly

Charles Tothill
Sophia Maberly
💍 1858/1227

Bachelor
Spinster

Sub-Editor

37
20

Chapel Street, Auckland
Freeman's Bay, Auckland

4 years
3 months

Dwelling house of Mr. G.F. Maberly, Freeman's Bay

George Frederick Maberly, guardian

22 June 1858

Rev. Thomas Hamer

No	448
Date of Notice	22 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Tothill	Sophia Maberly
	💍 1858/1227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sub-Editor
Age	37	20
Dwelling Place	Chapel Street, Auckland	Freeman's Bay, Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. G.F. Maberly, Freeman's Bay
Folio
Consent	George Frederick Maberly, guardian
Date of Certificate	22 June 1858
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Hamer

449

22 June 1858

Alexander McLeod
Mary McLean

Alexander McLeod
Mary McLean
💍 1858/1172

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
24

Waiheki
Auckland

2 months
4 weeks

Dwelling house of Mr. Alexr. McKenzie, Albert Street, Auckland

22 June 1858

Rev. David Bruce

No	449
Date of Notice	22 June 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McLeod	Mary McLean
	💍 1858/1172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Waiheki	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Alexr. McKenzie, Albert Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 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 1908. 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).