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 175

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

17 June 1861

John Weston Browne
Isabella Rodgers

John Weston Browne
Isabella Rodger
💍 1861/2673

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter

45
about 20

Poirma Road
Wellington

2 years
2 years

The residence of Mr. Fowler on Lambton Quay

14 August 1861

The Rev. John Mair and others

No	46
Date of Notice	17 June 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Weston Browne	Isabella Rodgers
BDM Match (97%)	John Weston Browne	Isabella Rodger
	💍 1861/2673
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	45	about 20
Dwelling Place	Poirma Road	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr. Fowler on Lambton Quay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Mair and others

3 July 1861

Edward Henderson Grigg
Mary Magdalene Ellen Stuart

Edward Henderson Grigg
Mary Magdalen Ellen Stuart
💍 1861/3924

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

23
about 20

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
19 years

The Roman Catholic chapel, known as St Mary's, situated at Thorndon

Richard Stuart, father of Mary Magdalene Ellen Stuart

3 July 1861

The Right Rev. Viard and others

No	47
Date of Notice	3 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henderson Grigg	Mary Magdalene Ellen Stuart
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Henderson Grigg	Mary Magdalen Ellen Stuart
	💍 1861/3924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	23	about 20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic chapel, known as St Mary's, situated at Thorndon
Folio
Consent	Richard Stuart, father of Mary Magdalene Ellen Stuart
Date of Certificate	3 July 1861
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Viard and others

3 July 1861

Samuel Ford
Martha Faulkner

Samuel Ford
Martha Faulkner
💍 1861/3890

Widower
Widow

Private in Armed Police
Relict of Thomas Faulkner, dece

38
36

Wellington
Wellington

about 6 years
about 2 years

Primitive Methodist chapel in Sidney Street

18 July 1861

The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

No	48
Date of Notice	3 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Ford	Martha Faulkner
	💍 1861/3890
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Private in Armed Police	Relict of Thomas Faulkner, dece
Age	38	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 6 years	about 2 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist chapel in Sidney Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

15 July 1861

William Prideaux
Elizabeth Webster

William Rideaux
Elizabeth Webster
💍 1861/3902

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
22

Wellington
Wellington

about 6 years
about 4 years

In the Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street

16 July 1861

The Rev. John Warren and others

No	49
Date of Notice	15 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Prideaux	Elizabeth Webster
BDM Match (94%)	William Rideaux	Elizabeth Webster
	💍 1861/3902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 6 years	about 4 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Warren and others

16 July 1861

Thomas Basswell
Ann Holes

Thomas Carswell
Ann Holes
💍 1861/2676

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

21 years + 2 months
21 years + 5 months

Mataikuna at present residing in Wellington
Wairarapa at present residing in Wellington

24 days
16 days

In the Private Residence of Mr. John Carswell in Daniel Street Wellington

16 July 1861

The Rev. John Mair and others

No	50
Date of Notice	16 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Basswell	Ann Holes
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Carswell	Ann Holes
	💍 1861/2676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	21 years + 2 months	21 years + 5 months
Dwelling Place	Mataikuna at present residing in Wellington	Wairarapa at present residing in Wellington
Length of Residence	24 days	16 days
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. John Carswell in Daniel Street Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 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).