1862 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840374, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 11 2024

Page 170

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1862

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

15 July 1862

John Holland
Alice Jane a'Court

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22 years
19 years

Hutt
Hutt

11 years
19 years

In the Private Residence of Mr. James a'Court, at the Waiwetu

James a'Court, Father of Alice Jane a'Court

No	48
Date of Notice	15 July 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Holland	Alice Jane a'Court
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	11 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. James a'Court, at the Waiwetu
Folio
Consent	James a'Court, Father of Alice Jane a'Court
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

19 July 1862

Duncan McLachlan
Ann McPhee

Duncan McLachlan
Ann McPhee
💍 1862/4493

Bachelor
Widow

Shepherd
Relict of Hugh McPhee, deceased

31 years
32 years

Wairarapa - at present residing in Wellington
Wairarapa - at present residing in Wellington

7 days
7 days

In the Private Residence of Mr. Alexander Cameron, at Kai Warra Warra

19 July 1862

The Rev. John Moir and others

No	49
Date of Notice	19 July 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan McLachlan	Ann McPhee
	💍 1862/4493
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shepherd	Relict of Hugh McPhee, deceased
Age	31 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Wairarapa - at present residing in Wellington	Wairarapa - at present residing in Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. Alexander Cameron, at Kai Warra Warra
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1862
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir and others

24 July 1862

Thomas Charles Darcy
Margaret Doreen

Thos C Darcy
Margaret Dorreen
💍 1862/4445

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

34 years
19 years

Hutt
Hutt

3 years
19 years

Private Residence of Thomas McKay - Hutt Road

Thomas Green, father of Margaret Green

24 July 1862

The Rev. John Moir and others

No	50
Date of Notice	24 July 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Charles Darcy	Margaret Doreen
BDM Match (75%)	Thos C Darcy	Margaret Dorreen
	💍 1862/4445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	34 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Thomas McKay - Hutt Road
Folio
Consent	Thomas Green, father of Margaret Green
Date of Certificate	24 July 1862
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir and others

31 July 1862

John Rayner
Elizabeth Southee

John Rayner
Elizabeth Southee
💍 1862/4404

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

24 years
28 years

Wairarapa - at present residing in Wellington
Hutt

3 weeks
many years

The Church of England at the Taita

31 July 1862

The Rev. George Henry John and others

No	51
Date of Notice	31 July 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rayner	Elizabeth Southee
	💍 1862/4404
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	24 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Wairarapa - at present residing in Wellington	Hutt
Length of Residence	3 weeks	many years
Marriage Place	The Church of England at the Taita
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1862
Officiating Minister	The Rev. George Henry John and others

4 August 1862

James Barber
Elizabeth Southee

James Barber
Elizabeth Southee
💍 1862/4366

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

29 years
22 years

Willis Street
Wellington

24 years
20 years

St. Peters Church in Willis Street

19 August 1862

The Rev. Arthur Stock and others

No	52
Date of Notice	4 August 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Barber	Elizabeth Southee
	💍 1862/4366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	29 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Willis Street	Wellington
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church in Willis Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1862
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock 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).