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 206

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31st of December 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

3rd October 1860

Robert Steele Martin
Mary Ann Gooden

Michael Steele Martin
Mary Ann Gooden
💍 1860/2782

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23 years
21 years

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
2 years

The private Residence of The Rev. William Kirton on Wellington Terrace

3rd October 1860

The Rev. William Kirton, and others

No	48
Date of Notice	3rd October 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Steele Martin	Mary Ann Gooden
BDM Match (83%)	Michael Steele Martin	Mary Ann Gooden
	💍 1860/2782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	2 years
Marriage Place	The private Residence of The Rev. William Kirton on Wellington Terrace
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3rd October 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Kirton, and others

9th October 1860

Thomas North
Mary Croake

Thomas North
Mary Croak
💍 1860/2788

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner
Domestic Servant

29 years
22 years

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street, Known as St Mary's

9th October 1860

The Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilley, and others

No	49
Date of Notice	9th October 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas North	Mary Croake
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas North	Mary Croak
	💍 1860/2788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Domestic Servant
Age	29 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street, Known as St Mary's
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9th October 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilley, and others

10th October 1860

Michael Mahon
Eliza Pepper

Michael Mahon
Eliza Pepper
💍 1860/2785

Bachelor
Spinster

Corporal in H. M. 65th Regiment

26 years
21 years

Wellington
Wellington

21 days
14 years

On the private residence of the Rev. William Kirton on Wellington Terrace

10th October 1860

The Rev. William Kirton, and others

No	50
Date of Notice	10th October 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Mahon	Eliza Pepper
	💍 1860/2785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Corporal in H. M. 65th Regiment
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 days	14 years
Marriage Place	On the private residence of the Rev. William Kirton on Wellington Terrace
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10th October 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Kirton, and others

20th October 1860

William Elton
Martha Faulkner

"Certificate not yet issued"

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Domestic servant

35 years
34 years

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
12 months

St Paul's Church Thorndon

No	51
Date of Notice	20th October 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Elton	Martha Faulkner
	💍 "Certificate not yet issued"
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic servant
Age	35 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

31st October 1860

Charles Cameron
Catherine McKinnon

Charles Cameron
Catherine McKinnon
💍 1860/2794

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

35 years
25 years

Turakina at present Wellington
Kai Wara Wara

9 days
4 years

In the private Residence of Mr Alexander Cameron, at Kai Wara Wara

31st October 1860

The Rev. John Moir, and others

No	52
Date of Notice	31st October 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Cameron	Catherine McKinnon
	💍 1860/2794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	35 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Turakina at present Wellington	Kai Wara Wara
Length of Residence	9 days	4 years
Marriage Place	In the private Residence of Mr Alexander Cameron, at Kai Wara Wara
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	31st October 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, and others

1st November 1860

John Speedy
Diana Bruce

John Speedy
Diana Bruce
💍 1860/2797

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32 years
20 years

Hutt
Hutt

5 months
about 19 years

The Private Residence of Mr John Martin on Te Aro flat

The consent of Peter Bruce, father of Diana Bruce

1st November 1860

The Rev. Wm Kirton, and others

No	53
Date of Notice	1st November 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Speedy	Diana Bruce
	💍 1860/2797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	5 months	about 19 years
Marriage Place	The Private Residence of Mr John Martin on Te Aro flat
Folio
Consent	The consent of Peter Bruce, father of Diana Bruce
Date of Certificate	1st November 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Wm Kirton, 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).