Intentions to Marry, 1859

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840371, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 12 2024

Page 097

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1859 Registrar John Elisha Smith

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

24 December 1858

Charles Watkins
Mary Shearer

Charles Watkins
Mary Shearer
💍 1859/2773

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

26 years
21 years

Wellington
Wellington

about 4 years
many years

Episcopalian Church at Te Aro known as St Peters

17 January 1859

The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

No	94
Date of Notice	24 December 1858
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Watkins	Mary Shearer
	💍 1859/2773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 4 years	many years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church at Te Aro known as St Peters
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1859
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

10 January 1859

Thomas Symons
Louisa Fitchett

Thomas Squires
Louisa Fitchett
💍 1859/2770

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23 years
26 years

Goathurst Farm
Ohiro Farm

4 months
Many years

The Episcopalian Church in Willis Street known as St Peters

10 January 1859

The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

No	95
Date of Notice	10 January 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Symons	Louisa Fitchett
BDM Match (82%)	Thomas Squires	Louisa Fitchett
	💍 1859/2770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Goathurst Farm	Ohiro Farm
Length of Residence	4 months	Many years
Marriage Place	The Episcopalian Church in Willis Street known as St Peters
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1859
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

13 January 1859

William Tonks
Charlotte Lovelock

William Tonks
Charlotte Lovelock
💍 1859/2738

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

21 years
18 years

Cuba Street
Cuba Street

16 years
16 years

Private Residence of the Revd Joshua Smith, in Sydney Street

Isaac Lovelock (Father)

13 January 1859

The Revd Joshua Smith and others

No	97
Date of Notice	13 January 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Tonks	Charlotte Lovelock
	💍 1859/2738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	21 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Cuba Street	Cuba Street
Length of Residence	16 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the Revd Joshua Smith, in Sydney Street
Folio
Consent	Isaac Lovelock (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 January 1859
Officiating Minister	The Revd Joshua Smith and others

17 January 1859

James Campbell
Margaret McDonell

James Campbell
Margaret McDonnel
💍 1859/2768

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

32 years
22 years

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 months

At the residence of Mr David Wilkinson, Oriental Bay

17 January 1859

The Revd William Kirton and others

No	98
Date of Notice	17 January 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Campbell	Margaret McDonell
BDM Match (94%)	James Campbell	Margaret McDonnel
	💍 1859/2768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	32 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr David Wilkinson, Oriental Bay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1859
Officiating Minister	The Revd William Kirton and others

26 January 1859

John Smith
Amelia Bird

John Smith
Amelia Bird
💍 1859/2762

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22 years
18 years

Town Belt
Town Belt

18 years
17 years

The Episcopalian Church known as St Peters in Willis Street

William Bird (Father)

4 February 1859

The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

No	99
Date of Notice	26 January 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Amelia Bird
	💍 1859/2762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Town Belt	Town Belt
Length of Residence	18 years	17 years
Marriage Place	The Episcopalian Church known as St Peters in Willis Street
Folio
Consent	William Bird (Father)
Date of Certificate	4 February 1859
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

100

26 January 1859

George Champion
Caroline Pomeroy

"Mr St Hills returns recd this not included assumed not married"

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

31 years
28 years

Pahautanui
Pahautanui

4 years
4 months

The Episcopalian Church Pahautanui

26 January 1859

The Revd H. W. St Hill and others

No	100
Date of Notice	26 January 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Champion	Caroline Pomeroy
	💍 "Mr St Hills returns recd this not included assumed not married"
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	31 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	The Episcopalian Church Pahautanui
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1859
Officiating Minister	The Revd H. W. St Hill and others

101

27 January 1859

George Abraham Partridge
Mary Ann Heayns

George Abraham Partridge
Mary Anne Heaynes
💍 1859/2759

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33 years
22 years

Wainuiomata
Waiwetu

3 years
about 1 year

The Episcopalian Church known as St James at the Hutt

11 February 1859

The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

No	101
Date of Notice	27 January 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Abraham Partridge	Mary Ann Heayns
BDM Match (94%)	George Abraham Partridge	Mary Anne Heaynes
	💍 1859/2759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wainuiomata	Waiwetu
Length of Residence	3 years	about 1 year
Marriage Place	The Episcopalian Church known as St James at the Hutt
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1859
Officiating Minister	The Revd Arthur Stock B.A. and others

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).