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 080

District of Auckland 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

1015

16 July 1861

John Tomnay
Ellen McCombie

John Tommy
Ellen McCombie
💍 1861/1823

Bachelor
Widow

Pt. Soldr. 40th Regt.

30
31

Camp, Otahuhu
Otahuhu

2 mths
abt 12 yrs

Roman Catholic Church Onehunga

16 July 1861

Rev. James Paul

No	1015
Date of Notice	16 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Tomnay	Ellen McCombie
BDM Match (91%)	John Tommy	Ellen McCombie
	💍 1861/1823
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Pt. Soldr. 40th Regt.
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Camp, Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	2 mths	abt 12 yrs
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paul

1016

23 July 1861

John Parkinson
Philomena Geraldine Tighe

John Parkinson
Philomena Geraldine Tighe
💍 1861/2201

Bachelor
Spinster

Lieut. 57 Regt.

24
20

Auckland
Mount Eden

1 week
7 yrs

St Paul's Church, Auckland, and The Roman Catholic Church, Auckland

Michael Tighe, Father

23 July 1861

Rev. J. F. Lloyd & Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

No	1016
Date of Notice	23 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Parkinson	Philomena Geraldine Tighe
	💍 1861/2201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lieut. 57 Regt.
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Mount Eden
Length of Residence	1 week	7 yrs
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Auckland, and The Roman Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Michael Tighe, Father
Date of Certificate	23 July 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Lloyd & Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

1017

23 July 1861

Aitchison Oliver
(Junior)
Amanda Malvina Hill

Aitcheson Oliver
Amanda Melvina Hill
💍 1861/1624

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop-keeper

26
16

Queen St. Auckland
Vincent St. Auckland

19 yrs
12 yrs

Roman Catholic Church, Auckland

Sarah Ann Smith, Mother

23 July 1861

Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

No	1017
Date of Notice	23 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aitchison Oliver (Junior)	Amanda Malvina Hill
BDM Match (94%)	Aitcheson Oliver	Amanda Melvina Hill
	💍 1861/1624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop-keeper
Age	26	16
Dwelling Place	Queen St. Auckland	Vincent St. Auckland
Length of Residence	19 yrs	12 yrs
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Sarah Ann Smith, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 July 1861
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop Pompallier

1018

27 July 1861

Joseph Greene
Mary Ann Perey

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Sergt. 65 Regt.

27
27

Albert St. Auckland
Epsom

3 mths
6 weeks

Church of England, Epsom

27 July 1861

Rev. A. G. Purchas

No	1018
Date of Notice	27 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Greene	Mary Ann Perey
BDM Match (7%)
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sergt. 65 Regt.
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Albert St. Auckland	Epsom
Length of Residence	3 mths	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Epsom
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Purchas

1019

29 July 1861

Jeremiah Forde
Mary Roche

Jeremy Forde
Mary Roche
💍 1861/2161

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

26
21 3/12

Queen St. Auckland
Cobourg St. Auckland

5 mths
15 yrs

Primitive Methodist Chapel Auckland

29 July 1861

Rev. Joseph Long

No	1019
Date of Notice	29 July 1861
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Forde	Mary Roche
BDM Match (89%)	Jeremy Forde	Mary Roche
	💍 1861/2161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	26	21 3/12
Dwelling Place	Queen St. Auckland	Cobourg St. Auckland
Length of Residence	5 mths	15 yrs
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1861
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Long

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).