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 002

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 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

1131

9 January 1862

George Isaacs
Esther Jacobs

George Isaacs
Esther Jacobs
💍 1862/5024

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

24
22

Union Street, Auckland
Victoria Street, Auckland

nearly 5 years
2 years

The Synagogue, Emily Place, Auckland

62/216

4 February 1862

Mr. Michael L[obscured]

No	1131
Date of Notice	9 January 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Isaacs	Esther Jacobs
	💍 1862/5024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Union Street, Auckland	Victoria Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	nearly 5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Synagogue, Emily Place, Auckland
Folio	62/216
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1862
Officiating Minister	Mr. Michael L[obscured]

1132

9 January 1862

John Stapleton Pilkington
Mary Ann Taylor

John Stapleton Pilkington
Mary Ann Taylor
💍 1862/2446

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican

23
23

Queen Street, Auckland
Queen Street, Auckland

20 years
about 16 years

The dwelling house of Mr. Alexr. Marshall, Albert Street, Auckland

62/51

9 January 1862

Revd. David Bruce

No	1132
Date of Notice	9 January 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stapleton Pilkington	Mary Ann Taylor
	💍 1862/2446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Queen Street, Auckland	Queen Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	about 16 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mr. Alexr. Marshall, Albert Street, Auckland
Folio	62/51
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1862
Officiating Minister	Revd. David Bruce

1133

13 January 1862

Francis Joseph
Georgina Courtney Petch

Francis Joseph
Georgina Courtney Pitch
💍 1862/5099

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

22
17

Auckland
Durham Street, Auckland

7 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church, Auckland

Henry Courtney Petch, Father

28 January 1862

Rev. Mich. D. O'Hara

No	1133
Date of Notice	13 January 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph	Georgina Courtney Petch
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Joseph	Georgina Courtney Pitch
	💍 1862/5099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Durham Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Henry Courtney Petch, Father
Date of Certificate	28 January 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mich. D. O'Hara

1134

15 January 1862

William Harris
Harriett Reynolds

[No matching marriage registration has been located; "Certificate not claimed within 3 months"]

Widower
Widow

Farmer

66
40

Harbour View, Auckland
Harbour View, Auckland

22 years
5 years

The Primitive Methodist Chapel, Edwardes Street, Auckland

No	1134
Date of Notice	15 January 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harris	Harriett Reynolds
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located; "Certificate not claimed within 3 months"]
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	66	40
Dwelling Place	Harbour View, Auckland	Harbour View, Auckland
Length of Residence	22 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The Primitive Methodist Chapel, Edwardes Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

1135

15 January 1862

James Wrigley
Frances Catherine Daldy

James Wrigley
Frances Catherine Daldy
💍 1862/4807

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

24
19

Newmarket
Auckland

nearly 3 years
nearly 19 years

Independent Chapel, Albert Street, Auckland

Wm. C. Daldy, Father

16 January 1862

Rev. Thos. Ha[mer]

No	1135
Date of Notice	15 January 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wrigley	Frances Catherine Daldy
	💍 1862/4807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Newmarket	Auckland
Length of Residence	nearly 3 years	nearly 19 years
Marriage Place	Independent Chapel, Albert Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Wm. C. Daldy, Father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Ha[mer]

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).