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 171

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

6 August 1862

Graham Speedy
Emily Groves

Graham Speedy
Emily Groves
💍 1862/4496

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

27
22

Hutt
Wellington

8 years
7 days

Private Residence of Mrs David Speedy - Hutt

12 August 1862

Rev. John Moir and others

No
Date of Notice	6 August 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Graham Speedy	Emily Groves
	💍 1862/4496
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mrs David Speedy - Hutt
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir and others

7 August 1862

Nicholas Reid
Priscilla Weight

Nicholas Reid
Priscilla Weight
💍 1862/4568

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

25
17

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
15 years

The Roman Catholic Chapel situate at Thorndon, known as "St Mary's"

Joseph Weight, father of Priscilla Weight

7 August 1862

The Right Rev. Father in God Bishop Viand and others

No
Date of Notice	7 August 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas Reid	Priscilla Weight
	💍 1862/4568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel situate at Thorndon, known as "St Mary's"
Folio
Consent	Joseph Weight, father of Priscilla Weight
Date of Certificate	7 August 1862
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Father in God Bishop Viand and others

15 August 1862

Isaac Anning
Elizabeth Robinson

Isaac Anning
Elizabeth Robinson
💍 1862/4407

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
18

Hutt
Hutt

2 years
6 years

The Church of England at the Taita

William Robinson, father of Elizabeth Robinson

16 August 1862

Rev. George Henry Johnstone and others

No
Date of Notice	15 August 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Anning	Elizabeth Robinson
	💍 1862/4407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England at the Taita
Folio
Consent	William Robinson, father of Elizabeth Robinson
Date of Certificate	16 August 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Henry Johnstone and others

28 August 1862

Bernard O'Riley
Hannah Blackey

Bernard O'Riley
Hannah Blackey
💍 1862/5389

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman

23
18

Wellington
Horokiwi Valley

7 days
7 years

The Roman Catholic Chapel, situate at Thorndon known as "St Mary's"

William Blackey, father of Hannah Blackey

28 August 1862

The Right Rev. Father in God Bishop Viard and others

No
Date of Notice	28 August 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard O'Riley	Hannah Blackey
	💍 1862/5389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Horokiwi Valley
Length of Residence	7 days	7 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel, situate at Thorndon known as "St Mary's"
Folio
Consent	William Blackey, father of Hannah Blackey
Date of Certificate	28 August 1862
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Father in God Bishop Viard and others

4 September 1862

Thomas Francis Dowling
Mary Logan Golder

Thomas Francis Dowling
Mary Golder
💍 1862/4416

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

24
16

Hutt
Hutt

5 months
16 years

Roman Catholic Chapel - Hutt

William Golder, father of Mary Logan Golder

20 September 1862

Rev. Joseph Seon and others. Notice withdrawn and renewed (see No 65)

No
Date of Notice	4 September 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Dowling	Mary Logan Golder
BDM Match (82%)	Thomas Francis Dowling	Mary Golder
	💍 1862/4416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	24	16
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	5 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel - Hutt
Folio
Consent	William Golder, father of Mary Logan Golder
Date of Certificate	20 September 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Seon and others. Notice withdrawn and renewed (see No 65)

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 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).