Intentions to Marry, 1861

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840373, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 11 2024

Page 097

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1861 Registrar John B Bennett

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

1087

31 October 1861

John Wilson
Jane Craig

John Wilson
Jane Craig
💍 1861/2470

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter

29
28

Chapel St. Auckland
Shortland St. Auckland

2 years
2 years

The dwellinghouse of Mr. Croudace, Engineer, Chapel St, Auckland

31 October 1861

Rev. David Bruce

No	1087
Date of Notice	31 October 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wilson	Jane Craig
	💍 1861/2470
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Chapel St. Auckland	Shortland St. Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The dwellinghouse of Mr. Croudace, Engineer, Chapel St, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

1088

31 October 1861

Urquhart Crisp
Elizabeth Mary Smith

Urquhart Crisp
Elizabeth Mary Smith
💍 1861/2210

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

34
36

Shortland Crescent Auckland
Shortland Cres. Auckland

abt 10 years
abt 5 years

St. Paul's Church Auckland

31 October 1861

Rev. J.F. Lloyd

No	1088
Date of Notice	31 October 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Urquhart Crisp	Elizabeth Mary Smith
	💍 1861/2210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Shortland Crescent Auckland	Shortland Cres. Auckland
Length of Residence	abt 10 years	abt 5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.F. Lloyd

1089

31 October 1861

James Baker
Anne Callagher

James Baker
Anne Callaher
💍 1861/1814

Bachelor
Spinster

Corp. 40th Regt.

21 11/12
15 8/12

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

abt 5 months
13 years

Roman Catholic Church Otahuhu

Francis Callagher, Father

31 October 1861

Rev. James Paul

No	1089
Date of Notice	31 October 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Baker	Anne Callagher
BDM Match (96%)	James Baker	Anne Callaher
	💍 1861/1814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Corp. 40th Regt.
Age	21 11/12	15 8/12
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	abt 5 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Otahuhu
Folio
Consent	Francis Callagher, Father
Date of Certificate	31 October 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paul

1090

2 November 1861

Francis Innis
Catherine Kelly

Francis Innes
Catherine Kelly
💍 1861/2488

Bachelor
Spinster

Dep. Asst. Commissent

22
15 6/12

Otahuhu
Remuera

6 months
14 years

The dwelling house of Robert Kelly Esq, (Father of the afore named Catherine Kelly) at Remuera

2 November 1861

Rev. David Bruce

No	1090
Date of Notice	2 November 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Innis	Catherine Kelly
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Innes	Catherine Kelly
	💍 1861/2488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dep. Asst. Commissent
Age	22	15 6/12
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Remuera
Length of Residence	6 months	14 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Robert Kelly Esq, (Father of the afore named Catherine Kelly) at Remuera
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

1091

4 November 1861

Jeremiah McGrath
Martha Wood

Jeremiah McGrath
Martha Wood
💍 1861/2050

Widower
Widow

Private Com. Staff Corps.
Shop-Keeper

35
34

Barracks Auckland
Chapel St. Auckland

Nearly 5 months
abt 9 years

Roman Catholic Church Auckland

18 November 1861

Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

No	1091
Date of Notice	4 November 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah McGrath	Martha Wood
	💍 1861/2050
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Private Com. Staff Corps.	Shop-Keeper
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Barracks Auckland	Chapel St. Auckland
Length of Residence	Nearly 5 months	abt 9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 November 1861
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

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).