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 104

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

27 June 1859

John McLean
Margaret Fyffe

John McLean
Margaret Fyffe
💍 1859/2778

Bachelor
Spinster

BoatBuilder

35 years
30 years

Wellington
Wellington

3 1/2 years
3 years

At the Residence of Miss Willcox on Lambton Quay

27 June 1859

The Rev. William Kirton and others

No	41
Date of Notice	27 June 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLean	Margaret Fyffe
	💍 1859/2778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	BoatBuilder
Age	35 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Residence of Miss Willcox on Lambton Quay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1859
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Kirton and others

27 June 1859

William Speedy
Fanny Groves

William Speedy
Fanny Groves
💍 1859/2781

Bachelor
Spinster

Inspector of Sheep

27 years
17 years

At present residing at the Hutt
At present residing at the Hutt

14 days upwards
7 days 6 months

The Private Residence of Mrs Speedy at the Hutt

John Groves the Father of "Fanny"

27 June 1859

The Rev. John Thomp and others

No	42
Date of Notice	27 June 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Speedy	Fanny Groves
	💍 1859/2781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Inspector of Sheep
Age	27 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	At present residing at the Hutt	At present residing at the Hutt
Length of Residence	14 days upwards	7 days 6 months
Marriage Place	The Private Residence of Mrs Speedy at the Hutt
Folio
Consent	John Groves the Father of "Fanny"
Date of Certificate	27 June 1859
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Thomp and others

27 June 1859

John Morgan
Catherine Green

John Morgan
Catherine Green
💍 1859/2844

Bachelor
Spinster

Lawyer
Daughter of Michael Green, deceased, and Ann, now Ann Potter

26 years
17 years

Tana Flat
Cuba Street

5 years
8 years

The Private Residence of the Rev. Joshua Smith, Sydney Street

Ann Potter the mother of "Catherine".

27 June 1859

The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

No	43
Date of Notice	27 June 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morgan	Catherine Green
	💍 1859/2844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lawyer	Daughter of Michael Green, deceased, and Ann, now Ann Potter
Age	26 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Tana Flat	Cuba Street
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The Private Residence of the Rev. Joshua Smith, Sydney Street
Folio
Consent	Ann Potter the mother of "Catherine".
Date of Certificate	27 June 1859
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

27 June 1859

John McDonald
Eliza McDonald

John McDonald
Elizabeth McDonnell
💍 1859/2784

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter and Joiner

29 years
28 years

Rangitikei at present in Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 months

The Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street

27 June 1859

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

No	44
Date of Notice	27 June 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDonald	Eliza McDonald
BDM Match (82%)	John McDonald	Elizabeth McDonnell
	💍 1859/2784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter and Joiner
Age	29 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Rangitikei at present in Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 June 1859
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. P. P. O'Reilly and others

30 June 1859

Charles Mills
Priscilla Vennell

"certificate not yet issued"

Widower
Spinster

Builder

56 years
43 years

Tinakori Road
Tinakori Road

18 years
4 years

The Church of England School House at Hawtrey

No	45
Date of Notice	30 June 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Mills	Priscilla Vennell
BDM Match (7%)
	💍 "certificate not yet issued"
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	56 years	43 years
Dwelling Place	Tinakori Road	Tinakori Road
Length of Residence	18 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England School House at Hawtrey
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

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).