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 171

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1861

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

11 February 1861

John Sapley
Mary Ann Smith

John Tapley
Mary Ann Smith
💍 1861/3881

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic servant

29
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
1 year 5 months

In the Private residence of mr. John Sapley in bura street

11 February 1861

The Rev. Joshua Smith, and others

No	13
Date of Notice	11 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sapley	Mary Ann Smith
BDM Match (95%)	John Tapley	Mary Ann Smith
	💍 1861/3881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic servant
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year 5 months
Marriage Place	In the Private residence of mr. John Sapley in bura street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith, and others

12 February 1861

Lewis Hook
Eliza Mexted

Lewis Hook
Eliza Mexted
💍 1861/3860

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

24
20

Wellington
Pounua Road

18 months
many years

St Paul's Church Thorndon

27 February 1861

The Rev. W. P. Sanner, and others

No	14
Date of Notice	12 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Hook	Eliza Mexted
	💍 1861/3860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Pounua Road
Length of Residence	18 months	many years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. W. P. Sanner, and others

16 February 1861

Salvatore Mazana
Elizabeth Tyler

Salvadore Mazzana
Elizabeth Tyler
💍 1861/3915

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
12 months

The Roman Catholic Chapel in manners Street known as "St Mary's"

16 February 1861

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

No	15
Date of Notice	16 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Salvatore Mazana	Elizabeth Tyler
BDM Match (94%)	Salvadore Mazzana	Elizabeth Tyler
	💍 1861/3915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	12 months
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel in manners Street known as "St Mary's"
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. P. O'Reilly, and others

19 February 1861

Edmund Cook
Annie Corathea Brown

Edmund Cook
Annie Dorothea Brown
💍 1861/3857

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk in Post Office

23
17

Wellington
Wellington

19 years
17 years

St Paul's Church Thorndon

Charles Brown, father of Annie Corathea Brown

19 February 1861

The Rev. W. P. Sanner, and others

No	16
Date of Notice	19 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Cook	Annie Corathea Brown
BDM Match (95%)	Edmund Cook	Annie Dorothea Brown
	💍 1861/3857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Post Office
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio
Consent	Charles Brown, father of Annie Corathea Brown
Date of Certificate	19 February 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. W. P. Sanner, and others

20 February 1861

William Odgers
Eliza Clarke

William Odgers
Eliza Clarke
💍 1861/3884

Bachelor
Widow

Mariner
Relict of John Clarke deceased

29
30

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
about 5 years

In the Private Residence of mr. William Odgers in bura street

20 February 1861

The Rev. Joshua Smith, and others

No	17
Date of Notice	20 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Odgers	Eliza Clarke
	💍 1861/3884
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mariner	Relict of John Clarke deceased
Age	29	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	about 5 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of mr. William Odgers in bura street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith, and others

20 February 1861

John Ramsay
Mary Ann Allen

John Ramsay
Mary Ann Allen
💍 1861/1905

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

22
17

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
17 years

In the private residence of mr. John Ramsay in Willis street

George Dalrymple Monteith, guardian of Mary Ann Allen

21 February 1861

The Rev. John Mair, and others

No	18
Date of Notice	20 February 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ramsay	Mary Ann Allen
	💍 1861/1905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the private residence of mr. John Ramsay in Willis street
Folio
Consent	George Dalrymple Monteith, guardian of Mary Ann Allen
Date of Certificate	21 February 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Mair, 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).