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 146

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

17 August 1860

Richard Peck
Elizabeth Gaskin

Richard Peck
Elizabeth Gaskin
💍 1860/1852

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23 years
24 years

Hutt
Hutt

12 years
18 months

The private residence of Mr. Pearce, Hutt Road

17 August 1860

The Rev. John Thorn, and others

No	39
Date of Notice	17 August 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Peck	Elizabeth Gaskin
	💍 1860/1852
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	12 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The private residence of Mr. Pearce, Hutt Road
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Thorn, and others

18 August 1860

Job Wilton
Ellen Curtis

Job Wilton
Ellen Curtis
💍 1860/2842

Bachelor
Spinster

Grazier

26 years
24 years

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
19 years

The Church of England on Thorndon, known as "St Paul's"

18 August 1860

The Rev. C. H. S. Nicholls, and others

No	40
Date of Notice	18 August 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Job Wilton	Ellen Curtis
	💍 1860/2842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grazier
Age	26 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England on Thorndon, known as "St Paul's"
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. C. H. S. Nicholls, and others

22 August 1860

Elijah Hayes Croucher
Emily Anne County

Elijah Hayes Croucher
Emily Ann Canty
💍 1860/2803

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

27 years
19 years

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
5 years

St Peter's Church in Willis Street

No person within the Colony authorised to give consent to the marriage of Emily Anne County

22 August 1860

The Rev. Arthur Stock, B. A. and others

No	41
Date of Notice	22 August 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elijah Hayes Croucher	Emily Anne County
BDM Match (91%)	Elijah Hayes Croucher	Emily Ann Canty
	💍 1860/2803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church in Willis Street
Folio
Consent	No person within the Colony authorised to give consent to the marriage of Emily Anne County
Date of Certificate	22 August 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock, B. A. and others

27 August 1860

Arthur Luff
Lucy Poutier

Arthur Luff
Lucy Butler
💍 1860/2806

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22 years
17 years

Hutt
Hutt

12 months
17 years

The Scotch Church at the Hutt

The consent of Thomas Poutier, Father of Lucy Poutier

13 September 1860

The Rev. John Thorn and others

No	42
Date of Notice	27 August 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Luff	Lucy Poutier
BDM Match (88%)	Arthur Luff	Lucy Butler
	💍 1860/2806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	12 months	17 years
Marriage Place	The Scotch Church at the Hutt
Folio
Consent	The consent of Thomas Poutier, Father of Lucy Poutier
Date of Certificate	13 September 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Thorn and others

31 August 1860

Waltham Kensett
Laura Louisa Evelyn Wright

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

32 years
23 years

Sydney
Wellington

3 days
3 years

St Peter's Church in Willis Street

31 August 1860

The Right Rev. Charles John, Bishop of Wellington & others

No	43
Date of Notice	31 August 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Waltham Kensett	Laura Louisa Evelyn Wright
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	32 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Sydney	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church in Willis Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1860
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Charles John, Bishop of Wellington & others

21 September 1860

William Burgess Richardson
Fanny Eliza Plimmer

William Burgess Richardson
Fanny Eliza Plimmer
💍 1860/2809

Bachelor
Spinster

Custom House Officer

22 years
17 years

Willis Street
Lambton Quay

19 years
17 years

In the private residence of William Burgess Richardson, in Willis Street

The consent of John Plimmer, Father of Fanny Eliza Plimmer

21 September 1860

The Rev. John Warren and others

No	44
Date of Notice	21 September 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Burgess Richardson	Fanny Eliza Plimmer
	💍 1860/2809
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Custom House Officer
Age	22 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Willis Street	Lambton Quay
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the private residence of William Burgess Richardson, in Willis Street
Folio
Consent	The consent of John Plimmer, Father of Fanny Eliza Plimmer
Date of Certificate	21 September 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Warren and others

22 September 1860

William Henry Hunter
Ann Guthrie

William Henry Hunter
Ann Guthrie
💍 1860/2911

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

29 years
21 years

Wellington
District of Wellington

10 days
8 years

The Residence of Thomas Guthrie Esq, Castle Point

22 September 1860

The Rev. William Ronaldson and others

No	45
Date of Notice	22 September 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Hunter	Ann Guthrie
	💍 1860/2911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	29 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	District of Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	8 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Thomas Guthrie Esq, Castle Point
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 September 1860
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Ronaldson 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).