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 297

District of Lyttelton Quarter ending 30 June 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 April 1862

Alexander Charles Forbes
Williamina Johanna Cochrane

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
25

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

4 months
4 days

Church of the Holy Trinity Lyttelton

14 April 1862

Rev. Francis Knowles

No	1
Date of Notice	1 April 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Charles Forbes	Williamina Johanna Cochrane
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	4 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Trinity Lyttelton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Knowles

2 April 1862

William Kirk
Isabella McGregor

William Kirk
Isabella McGregor
💍 1862/3505

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

25
21

Lyttelton
Lyttelton

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Lyttelton

2nd April 1862

James Townsend

No	2
Date of Notice	2 April 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kirk	Isabella McGregor
	💍 1862/3505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Lyttelton	Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Lyttelton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2nd April 1862
Officiating Minister	James Townsend

3 April 1862

William Salkeld
Margaret Brayson

William Salkeld
Margaret Brayson
💍 1862/3484

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Dress maker

29
31

Dampier's Bay
Dampier's Bay

2 1/4 years
2 1/4 years

Wesleyan Chapel Lyttelton

17th April 1862

Rev. Joseph S. Rishworth

No	3
Date of Notice	3 April 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Salkeld	Margaret Brayson
	💍 1862/3484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Dress maker
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Dampier's Bay	Dampier's Bay
Length of Residence	2 1/4 years	2 1/4 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel Lyttelton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17th April 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph S. Rishworth

14 April 1862

William Godfrey
Martha Smith

William Godfrey
Martha Smith
💍 1862/3731

Widower
Widow

Cabinet maker

53
43

Exeter Street, Lyttelton
Dampier's Bay

10 years
4 years

Residence of George Clark, Dampier's Bay

14th April 1862

Rev. Charles Fraser

No	4
Date of Notice	14 April 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Godfrey	Martha Smith
	💍 1862/3731
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Cabinet maker
Age	53	43
Dwelling Place	Exeter Street, Lyttelton	Dampier's Bay
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Clark, Dampier's Bay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14th April 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles Fraser

9 June 1862

John Mundy Beausant
Sarah Kilburn

John Mundy Beausant
Sarah Kilburn
💍 1862/2152

Bachelor
Spinster

Brick layer
Domestic Servant

28
23

London Street, Lyttelton
Sumner

9 days
8 months

Registrar's Office Lyttelton

9th June 1862

James Townsend

No	5
Date of Notice	9 June 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mundy Beausant	Sarah Kilburn
	💍 1862/2152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brick layer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	London Street, Lyttelton	Sumner
Length of Residence	9 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Lyttelton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9th June 1862
Officiating Minister	James Townsend

13 June 1862

Henry Sawlell
Mary Ann Abraham

Henry Sawtell
Mary Anne Abrahams
💍 1862/5

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
22

Oxford Street, Lyttelton
Winchester Street, Lyttelton

3 years
1 year

Church of the Holy Trinity Lyttelton

13th June 1862

Rev. Francis Knowles

No	6
Date of Notice	13 June 1862
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Sawlell	Mary Ann Abraham
BDM Match (91%)	Henry Sawtell	Mary Anne Abrahams
	💍 1862/5
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Oxford Street, Lyttelton	Winchester Street, Lyttelton
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Trinity Lyttelton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13th June 1862
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Knowles

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).