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 005

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

1 February 1862

John Pritchard Guthrie
Mary Hawkins

John Pritchard Guthrie
Mary Hawkins
💍 1862/4840

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
24

North Shore
North Shore

6 years
9 years

The Church of St. John the Baptist, North Shore

312

26 February 1862

Rev. E. A. Heywood

No	1
Date of Notice	1 February 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pritchard Guthrie	Mary Hawkins
	💍 1862/4840
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	North Shore	North Shore
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	The Church of St. John the Baptist, North Shore
Folio	312
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Heywood

3 February 1862

James Young Stratham
Margaret Clark

James Young Stevenson
Margaret Clark
💍 1862/2452

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

25
20

Shortland Street, Auckland
Shortland Street, Auckland

5 years
12 years

The dwelling house of Archibald Clark, Shortland St, Auckland

Archibald Clark, Father

17 February 1862

Rev. David Bruce

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Young Stratham	Margaret Clark
BDM Match (83%)	James Young Stevenson	Margaret Clark
	💍 1862/2452
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Shortland Street, Auckland	Shortland Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Archibald Clark, Shortland St, Auckland
Folio
Consent	Archibald Clark, Father
Date of Certificate	17 February 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Bruce

10 February 1862

George William Owen
Anne Lydia Dewar

George William Owen
Annie Lydia Dewar
💍 1862/4976

Widower
Spinster

Storeman

36
21

Hobson St, Auckland
Hobson Street, Auckland

3 years
3 years

The dwelling house of the within named Geo. W. Owen, Hobson St, Auckland

5 March 1862

Rev. Joseph Long

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Owen	Anne Lydia Dewar
BDM Match (97%)	George William Owen	Annie Lydia Dewar
	💍 1862/4976
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Hobson St, Auckland	Hobson Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of the within named Geo. W. Owen, Hobson St, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Long

11 February 1862

Thomas Wilson
Mary Ann Porter

Thomas Wilson
Mary Ann Porter
💍 1862/4849

Bachelor
Widow

Pt Sol. 65th Reg.

37
36

Albert Barracks
Panmure in Auckland

6 months
14 years 9 months

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

25 February 1862

Rev. David Jones

No	4
Date of Notice	11 February 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wilson	Mary Ann Porter
	💍 1862/4849
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Pt Sol. 65th Reg.
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Albert Barracks	Panmure in Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	14 years 9 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jones

11 February 1862

John Auckland Wray
Hannah Wadsworth

John Buckland Way
Hannah Norsworthy
💍 1862/4846

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
23

Symonds St, Auckland
Newmarket

2 years
4 days

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

11 February 1862

Rev. David Jones

No	5
Date of Notice	11 February 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Auckland Wray	Hannah Wadsworth
BDM Match (83%)	John Buckland Way	Hannah Norsworthy
	💍 1862/4846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Symonds St, Auckland	Newmarket
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Jones

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).