Intentions to Marry, 1860

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840372, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 089

District of Wellington Quarter ending thirtieth of June 1860

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

[UNCLEAR]

Alfred Judge
Helen Mitchell

Alfred Judge
Helen Mitchell
💍 1860/2874

Particulars of Notice given in last Quarters Return

12 April 1860

The Rev. William Kirton, & others

No	15
Date of Notice	[UNCLEAR]
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Judge	Helen Mitchell
	💍 1860/2874
Condition
Profession
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Particulars of Notice given in last Quarters Return
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Kirton, & others

5 April 1860

John Astill
Augusta Ann Salmon

John Astill
Augusta Ann Salmon
💍 1860/2743

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24 years
19 years

Thorndon Flat
Lambton Quay

2 1/2 years
13/4 years

The Church in Wellington known as St Paul's Thorndon

No Person within the Colony authorised to give consent

5th April 1860

The Right Rev. The Bishop of Wellington, and others

No	16
Date of Notice	5 April 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Astill	Augusta Ann Salmon
	💍 1860/2743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Thorndon Flat	Lambton Quay
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	13/4 years
Marriage Place	The Church in Wellington known as St Paul's Thorndon
Folio
Consent	No Person within the Colony authorised to give consent
Date of Certificate	5th April 1860
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. The Bishop of Wellington, and others

9 April 1860

James Creamer
Ann Moore

James Creamer
Anne Moore
💍 1860/2975

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

60 years
Full age

Pipitea Street
Pipitea Street

20 years
2 years

The Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street

9 April 1860

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

No	17
Date of Notice	9 April 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Creamer	Ann Moore
BDM Match (95%)	James Creamer	Anne Moore
	💍 1860/2975
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	60 years	Full age
Dwelling Place	Pipitea Street	Pipitea Street
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilly and others

12 April 1860

William Thompson
Catherine Yorston

William Thompson
Catherine Yorston
💍 1860/2877

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

24 years
22 years

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
2 Months

In the Private Residence of Mrs Porter, on Thorndon Flat Wellington

12 April 1860

The Rev. William Kirton, and others

No	18
Date of Notice	12 April 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thompson	Catherine Yorston
	💍 1860/2877
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	2 Months
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mrs Porter, on Thorndon Flat Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Kirton, and others

14 April 1860

Joseph Burne
Jessie Trotter

Joseph Bourne
Jessie Trotter
💍 1860/2851

Bachelor
Spinster

Linen Draper

38 years
26 years

Wellington
Hutt

11 years
about 15 years

In the Private Residence of Mr William Trotter at the Hutt

14 April 1860

The Rev. Henry William Scott and others

No	19
Date of Notice	14 April 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Burne	Jessie Trotter
BDM Match (96%)	Joseph Bourne	Jessie Trotter
	💍 1860/2851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linen Draper
Age	38 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hutt
Length of Residence	11 years	about 15 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr William Trotter at the Hutt
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Henry William Scott and others

21 April 1860

John James Chamberlain
Alison Christison

John Chamberlain
Alison Christison
💍 1860/2854

Bachelor
Spinster

Store-Keeper

23 years
17 years

Wellington
Wellington

about 14 months
17 years

In the Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street

Peter Christison Father of Alison Christison

21 April 1860

The Rev. John Warren and others

No	20
Date of Notice	21 April 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Chamberlain	Alison Christison
BDM Match (86%)	John Chamberlain	Alison Christison
	💍 1860/2854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store-Keeper
Age	23 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 14 months	17 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street
Folio
Consent	Peter Christison Father of Alison Christison
Date of Certificate	21 April 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Warren and others

23 April 1860

William Cottle
Anna Maria Mee

William Cotle
Anna Maria Mee
💍 1860/2857

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

24 years
16 years

Tinakori Road
Wellington

about 18 years
about 12 years

In the Roman Catholic Church known as "St Mary's" situate at Thorndon

John Mee. Father of Anna Maria Mee

23 April 1860

The Right Rev. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington and others

No	21
Date of Notice	23 April 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cottle	Anna Maria Mee
BDM Match (96%)	William Cotle	Anna Maria Mee
	💍 1860/2857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	24 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Tinakori Road	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 18 years	about 12 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church known as "St Mary's" situate at Thorndon
Folio
Consent	John Mee. Father of Anna Maria Mee
Date of Certificate	23 April 1860
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington and 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).