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 169

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1861 Registrar John Elisha Smith

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

2 January 1861

William Lawrence
Mary Ann Robinson

William Laurence
Mary Ann Robinson
💍 1861/3851

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

25
17

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

2 years
4 years

"St Pauls" Church Thorndon

John Robinson, father of Mary Ann Robinson

2 January 1861

The Rev. W. P. Tanner and others

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lawrence	Mary Ann Robinson
BDM Match (97%)	William Laurence	Mary Ann Robinson
	💍 1861/3851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	"St Pauls" Church Thorndon
Folio
Consent	John Robinson, father of Mary Ann Robinson
Date of Certificate	2 January 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. W. P. Tanner and others

5 January 1861

Kendrick Irons
Caroline Till

Kendrick Irons
Caroline Till
💍 1861/3878

Widower
Spinster

Sawyer

35
35

Johnsonville
Karori Road

10 years
3 years

The Primitive methodist Chapel at Tawa Flat

21 January 1861

The Rev. Joshua Smith, and others

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kendrick Irons	Caroline Till
	💍 1861/3878
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Karori Road
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Primitive methodist Chapel at Tawa Flat
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith, and others

7 January 1861

Thomas Gilman
Mary Ann Stratford

Thomas Gilmour
Mary Ann Stratford
💍 1861/3945

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

35
20

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

5 years
20 years

In the Private Residence of John Stratford at the Lower Hutt

John Stratford, father of Mary Ann Stratford

22 January 1861

The Rev. John Aldred and others

No	3
Date of Notice	7 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gilman	Mary Ann Stratford
BDM Match (89%)	Thomas Gilmour	Mary Ann Stratford
	💍 1861/3945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of John Stratford at the Lower Hutt
Folio
Consent	John Stratford, father of Mary Ann Stratford
Date of Certificate	22 January 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Aldred and others

7 January 1861

John Peter Oakes
Caroline Richardson

John Peter Oakes
Caroline Richardson
💍 1861/3921

Bachelor
Spinster

Master mariner

Full age
Full age

Wellington
Wellington

14 days
19 years

The Roman Catholic church known as "St Mary's" situate at Thorndon

7 January 1861

The Right Rev. Dr Viard and others

No	4
Date of Notice	7 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Peter Oakes	Caroline Richardson
	💍 1861/3921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master mariner
Age	Full age	Full age
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 days	19 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic church known as "St Mary's" situate at Thorndon
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1861
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Dr Viard and others

7 January 1861

William Harris
Jessie Clark

William Harris
Jessie Clark
💍 1861/3893

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

21 & 3 months
16

Pahautanui near Wellington
Pahautanui

8 years
16 years

London's Hotel at Porirua

David Clark, father of Jessie Clark

7 January 1861

The Rev. H. W. Scott, and others

No	5
Date of Notice	7 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harris	Jessie Clark
	💍 1861/3893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	21 & 3 months	16
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui near Wellington	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	8 years	16 years
Marriage Place	London's Hotel at Porirua
Folio
Consent	David Clark, father of Jessie Clark
Date of Certificate	7 January 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. H. W. Scott, and others

12 January 1861

William Gray
Margaret Paterson

William Gray
Margaret Paterson
💍 1861/2661

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

29
21

Wellington
Wellington

5 weeks
about 3 months

In the Private Residence of The Rev. John Main in Wellington

12 January 1861

The Rev. John Moir, and others

No	6
Date of Notice	12 January 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gray	Margaret Paterson
	💍 1861/2661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 weeks	about 3 months
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of The Rev. John Main in Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, and others

19 December 1860

Benjamin Sewell
Flora McCoy

Benjamin Sewell
Flora McCoy
💍 1861/3848

This notice appeared in last Quarters Return

5 January 1861

The Rev. W. P. Tanner and others

No	61
Date of Notice	19 December 1860
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Sewell	Flora McCoy
	💍 1861/3848
Condition
Profession
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio	This notice appeared in last Quarters Return
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. W. P. Tanner 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 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).