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 110

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31st of December 1859

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

16 November 1859

John Henry Trask
Mary Greer

John Henry Trask
Mary Greer
💍 1859/2910

Widower
Spinster

Mariner

27 years
about 18 years

Wellington
Paua Road

7 years
7 years

In the Church at Johnsonville

Agnes Greer, Mother of Mary

1 December 1859

Rev. H. W. St. Hill and others

No	70
Date of Notice	16 November 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Trask	Mary Greer
	💍 1859/2910
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27 years	about 18 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Paua Road
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Church at Johnsonville
Folio
Consent	Agnes Greer, Mother of Mary
Date of Certificate	1 December 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. St. Hill and others

25 November 1859

Joseph Masters
Sarah Bowler

Joseph Masters
Sarah Bowler
💍 1859/2916

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Relict of Joseph Bowler deceased

56 years
50 years

Masterton
at present Wellington Porirua

4 days
about 10 years

The School Room at Pahautanui

26 November 1859

Rev. H. W. St Hill and others

No	71
Date of Notice	25 November 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Masters	Sarah Bowler
	💍 1859/2916
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Relict of Joseph Bowler deceased
Age	56 years	50 years
Dwelling Place	Masterton	at present Wellington Porirua
Length of Residence	4 days	about 10 years
Marriage Place	The School Room at Pahautanui
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. St Hill and others

30 November 1859

George Henry Wilson
Kate Jane Hannon

George Henry Wilson
Kate Jane Hannon
💍 1859/2913

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26 years
22 years

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
2 1/2 years

The Episcopalian Church in Wellington Known as St Peters

5 December 1859

Rev. Arthur Stock B.A. and

No	72
Date of Notice	30 November 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Wilson	Kate Jane Hannon
	💍 1859/2913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Episcopalian Church in Wellington Known as St Peters
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 December 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Stock B.A. and

12 December 1859

George Frederick Swainson
Maryanne Arrowsmith

George Frederic Swainson
Mary Anne Arrowsmith
💍 1859/2901

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

30 years
26 years

Wellington
Hutt

18 years
3 years

The Episcopalian Church at the Hutt Known as St James

7 December 1859

Rev. H. W. St. Hill & others

No	73
Date of Notice	12 December 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Swainson	Maryanne Arrowsmith
BDM Match (93%)	George Frederic Swainson	Mary Anne Arrowsmith
	💍 1859/2901
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	30 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hutt
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Episcopalian Church at the Hutt Known as St James
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. W. St. Hill & others

17 December 1859

Thomas Harris
Phoebe Ann Rayner

Thomas Harris
Phoebe Ann Rayner
💍 1859/2904

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

20 years
19 years

Taita
Taita

18 years
5 years

The Private Residence of Abraham Harris at the Hutt

Abraham Harris, Father of Thomas Harris John Rayner, Father of Phoebe Ann Rayner

21 December 1859

Rev. John Thom and others

No	74
Date of Notice	17 December 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harris	Phoebe Ann Rayner
	💍 1859/2904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	20 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Taita	Taita
Length of Residence	18 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Private Residence of Abraham Harris at the Hutt
Folio
Consent	Abraham Harris, Father of Thomas Harris John Rayner, Father of Phoebe Ann Rayner
Date of Certificate	21 December 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Thom and others

19 December 1859

Charles Estall
Harriet Wooldom

Charles Estall
Harriet Woouldom
💍 1859/1196

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

26 years
18 years

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
18 years

Episcopalian Church in Willis Street Known as St Peters

Henry William Wooldom, Father of Harriet Wooldom

19 December 1859

Rev. Arthur Stock, B.A. & others

No	75
Date of Notice	19 December 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Estall	Harriet Wooldom
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Estall	Harriet Woouldom
	💍 1859/1196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	26 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Episcopalian Church in Willis Street Known as St Peters
Folio
Consent	Henry William Wooldom, Father of Harriet Wooldom
Date of Certificate	19 December 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Stock, B.A. & 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).