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 048

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30th September 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

628

8th August 1859

Cyrus Haskell
Anne Matthews

Cyrus Haskell
Anne Matheson
💍 1859/1328

Widower
Spinster

Publican

43
30

Wyndham St. Auckland
Foreman's Bay Auckland

4 months
2 years

The house of Cyrus Haskell, Drake Street, Freemans Bay

8th August 1859

Rev. David Bruce

No	628
Date of Notice	8th August 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyrus Haskell	Anne Matthews
BDM Match (85%)	Cyrus Haskell	Anne Matheson
	💍 1859/1328
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Wyndham St. Auckland	Foreman's Bay Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	The house of Cyrus Haskell, Drake Street, Freemans Bay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8th August 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

629

8th August 1859

William Kimpton
Jane Dunn

William Kingston
Jane Dunne
💍 1859/2295

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
28

Cabbage Tree Swamp Auckland
West Queen Street Auckland

6 months
1 month

Church of England Remuera

8th August 1859

Rev. J. P. B. Kingdon

No	629
Date of Notice	8th August 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kimpton	Jane Dunn
BDM Match (86%)	William Kingston	Jane Dunne
	💍 1859/2295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Cabbage Tree Swamp Auckland	West Queen Street Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Church of England Remuera
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8th August 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. B. Kingdon

630

15th August 1859

Edward Partington
Elizabeth Jane Conlan

Edward Partington
Elizabeth Jane Conlan
💍 1859/1361

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer
Dress-maker

30
21

Albert Street Auckland
Parnell

16 years
4 weeks

The Residence of the Rev. David Bruce Parnell

15th August 1859

Rev. David Bruce

No	630
Date of Notice	15th August 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Partington	Elizabeth Jane Conlan
	💍 1859/1361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	Dress-maker
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Albert Street Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	16 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	The Residence of the Rev. David Bruce Parnell
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15th August 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

631

14th August 1859

John Wesley
Mary Anne Margaret Hamon

John Wesley
Mary Ann Margaret Hamon
💍 1859/1426

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

28
16 1/2

Queen St. Wharf Auckland
Victoria Street Auckland

5 years
2 years

The Wesleyan College Auckland

Charles Hamon, Father

16th September 1859

Rev. Isaac Harding

No	631
Date of Notice	14th August 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wesley	Mary Anne Margaret Hamon
BDM Match (98%)	John Wesley	Mary Ann Margaret Hamon
	💍 1859/1426
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	28	16 1/2
Dwelling Place	Queen St. Wharf Auckland	Victoria Street Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan College Auckland
Folio
Consent	Charles Hamon, Father
Date of Certificate	16th September 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Harding

632

18th August 1859

George William Poole
Jane Gillingham

George William Poole
Jane Gillingham
💍 1859/1420

Bachelor
Widow

Draper

31
32

Queen St. Auckland
Parnell

8 months
2 years

The dwelling house of Mr. Gillingham at Parnell

18th August 1859

Rev. Isaac Harding

No	632
Date of Notice	18th August 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Poole	Jane Gillingham
	💍 1859/1420
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Draper
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Queen St. Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	8 months	2 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mr. Gillingham at Parnell
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18th August 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. Isaac Harding

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).