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 162

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

26 April 1861

Patrick O'Brien
Mary Ann McCarthy

Patrick O'Brien
Mary A McCarthy
💍 1861/3918

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 years

In the Roman Catholic Chapel on manners Street, known as St Mary's

Alexander Mc Carthy, father of Mary Ann Mc Carthy

26 April 1861

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

No	34
Date of Notice	26 April 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick O'Brien	Mary Ann McCarthy
BDM Match (92%)	Patrick O'Brien	Mary A McCarthy
	💍 1861/3918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Chapel on manners Street, known as St Mary's
Folio
Consent	Alexander Mc Carthy, father of Mary Ann Mc Carthy
Date of Certificate	26 April 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilly and others

4 May 1861

Robert Slooper
Emily Rebecca Louisa Bellingham

Robert Hooper
Emily Rebecca Louisa Fellingham
💍 1861/3829

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
22

Upper Hutt
Wellington

20 years
20 years

"St Peter's" church in Willis Street

4 May 1861

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

No	35
Date of Notice	4 May 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Slooper	Emily Rebecca Louisa Bellingham
BDM Match (91%)	Robert Hooper	Emily Rebecca Louisa Fellingham
	💍 1861/3829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	"St Peter's" church in Willis Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock, B. A. and others

6 May 1861

Matthew Donaldson
Mary Devonport

Matthew Donaldson
Mary Devenport
💍 1861/1713

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Relict of Thomas Devonport, decd

38
40

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
about 3 years

"St Peter's" Church in Willis Street

21 May 1861

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

No	36
Date of Notice	6 May 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Donaldson	Mary Devonport
BDM Match (96%)	Matthew Donaldson	Mary Devenport
	💍 1861/1713
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Relict of Thomas Devonport, decd
Age	38	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	about 3 years
Marriage Place	"St Peter's" Church in Willis Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock, B. A. and others

8 May 1861

Charles Hartmann
Jane Allen

Charles Hartmann
Jane Allen
💍 1861/1899

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

26
28

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
about 8 years

"St Paul's" Church, Thorndon

8 May 1861

The Rev. W. P. Janner, and others

No	37
Date of Notice	8 May 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hartmann	Jane Allen
	💍 1861/1899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	about 8 years
Marriage Place	"St Paul's" Church, Thorndon
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. W. P. Janner, and others

11 May 1861

Henry James Saprell
Mary Ann Tompkins

Henry James Taperell
Mary Ann Tompkins
💍 1861/2620

Bachelor
Spinster

Licensed Victualler

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
18 years

In the office of the Registrar of marriages

11 May 1861

The Registrar of marriages for the District of Wellington and others

No	38
Date of Notice	11 May 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Saprell	Mary Ann Tompkins
BDM Match (95%)	Henry James Taperell	Mary Ann Tompkins
	💍 1861/2620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Licensed Victualler
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar of marriages
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1861
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of marriages for the District of Wellington and others

11 May 1861

Henry Bennett
Frances Sarah Jenkins

Henry Bennett
Frances Sarah Jenkins
💍 1861/3887

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
4 years

In the Private Residence of the said Henry Bennett on Sambton Quay

Sarah Ann Carr, Mother, & a farmer, Husband of Frances Sarah Jenkins

11 May 1861

The Rev. John Wanin and others

No	39
Date of Notice	11 May 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bennett	Frances Sarah Jenkins
	💍 1861/3887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of the said Henry Bennett on Sambton Quay
Folio
Consent	Sarah Ann Carr, Mother, & a farmer, Husband of Frances Sarah Jenkins
Date of Certificate	11 May 1861
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Wanin 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).