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 030

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

548

12 February 1859

Henry Gilfillan
Catherine Frances Davies

Henry Gilfillan
Catherine Frances Davies
💍 1859/1304

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

30
20

Auckland
Auckland

nearly 5 years
14 years

Sea View, The dwelling house of J. A. Gilfillan Esq.

Isabella Gethin Davies, Mother

12 February 1859

Rev. David Bruce

No	548
Date of Notice	12 February 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gilfillan	Catherine Frances Davies
	💍 1859/1304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	nearly 5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Sea View, The dwelling house of J. A. Gilfillan Esq.
Folio
Consent	Isabella Gethin Davies, Mother
Date of Certificate	12 February 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

549

15 February 1859

Walter Hooper
Mergena Hardy

Walter Hooper
Margina Hardy
💍 1859/2325

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Milliner

26
15 11/12

Yew Tree Inn Auckland
Barrack Street Auckland

2 years
9 years

St Pauls Church Auckland

John Hardy, Father

16 February 1859

Rev. J. F. Lloyd

No	549
Date of Notice	15 February 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hooper	Mergena Hardy
BDM Match (92%)	Walter Hooper	Margina Hardy
	💍 1859/2325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Milliner
Age	26	15 11/12
Dwelling Place	Yew Tree Inn Auckland	Barrack Street Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church Auckland
Folio
Consent	John Hardy, Father
Date of Certificate	16 February 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Lloyd

550

15 February 1859

William Prior
"Timata"

William Prior
Timata NR
💍 1859/2236

Bachelor
Spinster

Sealer
aboriginal native

41
about 35

Wai Whau Whau
Wai Whau Whau

3 years
2 years

St. Matthews Church Auckland

15 February 1859

Rev. David Jones

No	550
Date of Notice	15 February 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Prior	"Timata"
BDM Match (78%)	William Prior	Timata NR
	💍 1859/2236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sealer	aboriginal native
Age	41	about 35
Dwelling Place	Wai Whau Whau	Wai Whau Whau
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jones

551

17 February 1859

James Irwin Wilson
Johanna Monro

James Irwin Wilson
Johanna Munro
💍 1859/2517

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

26
21

Victoria Street Auckland
Wellesley St. Auckland

14 days
3 days

The dwelling House of Mr. McKenzie, Wellesley St, Carpenter

17 February 1859

Rev. James Thornton

No	551
Date of Notice	17 February 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Irwin Wilson	Johanna Monro
BDM Match (96%)	James Irwin Wilson	Johanna Munro
	💍 1859/2517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Victoria Street Auckland	Wellesley St. Auckland
Length of Residence	14 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The dwelling House of Mr. McKenzie, Wellesley St, Carpenter
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Thornton

552

19 February 1859

Arscott Roberts
Elizabeth Watson

Arscott Roberts
Elizabeth Watson
💍 1859/1223

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
16

Howick
Howick

3 years
12 years

All Saints Church Howick

Sarah Watson, Mother

19 February 1859

Rev. V. Lush

No	552
Date of Notice	19 February 1859
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arscott Roberts	Elizabeth Watson
	💍 1859/1223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Howick	Howick
Length of Residence	3 years	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Howick
Folio
Consent	Sarah Watson, Mother
Date of Certificate	19 February 1859
Officiating Minister	Rev. V. Lush

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).