Intentions to Marry, 1863

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840375, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 142

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1863

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

13 August 1863

Thomas Vigurs Harvey
Agnes Balkney Russell

Thomas Vigurs Harvey
Agnes Hakney Russell
💍 1863/7723

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker

37
21

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
12 years

In the Private Residence of Mrs Sarah Russell

382

13 August 1863

The Rev. John Muir

No	64
Date of Notice	13 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Vigurs Harvey	Agnes Balkney Russell
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Vigurs Harvey	Agnes Hakney Russell
	💍 1863/7723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mrs Sarah Russell
Folio	382
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Muir

15 August 1863

Frederick William Eberlet
Alice Barey

Frederick William Eberlet
Alice Carey
💍 1863/7765

Bachelor
Spinster

Licensed Victualler

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
3 years

In the Private Residence of Mr. David Smith in Mulgrave Street

397

Louisa Smith, mother of Alice Barey

19 August 1863

The Rev. John Muir

No	65
Date of Notice	15 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Eberlet	Alice Barey
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick William Eberlet	Alice Carey
	💍 1863/7765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Licensed Victualler
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. David Smith in Mulgrave Street
Folio	397
Consent	Louisa Smith, mother of Alice Barey
Date of Certificate	19 August 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Muir

20 August 1863

Thomas Webb
Elizabeth Harcus

Thomas Webb
Elizabeth Harcus
💍 1863/7726

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Relict of Henry Harcus

61
60

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
9 years

In the Private Residence of The Revd. John Muir

383

20 August 1863

The Rev. John Muir

No	66
Date of Notice	20 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Webb	Elizabeth Harcus
	💍 1863/7726
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Relict of Henry Harcus
Age	61	60
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	9 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of The Revd. John Muir
Folio	383
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Muir

26 August 1863

Herbert Vernon Silverap
Jessie Alexander Moir

Herbert Vivian Lillicoupe
Jessie Alexander Moir
💍 1863/7729

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

32
26

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
many years

Private Residence of The Rev. John Muir

384

26 August 1863

The Rev. John Muir

No	67
Date of Notice	26 August 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Vernon Silverap	Jessie Alexander Moir
BDM Match (78%)	Herbert Vivian Lillicoupe	Jessie Alexander Moir
	💍 1863/7729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	many years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of The Rev. John Muir
Folio	384
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 August 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Muir

1 September 1863

Giles Edinborough Chamberlain
Penelope Jane Whalton

Giles Edinborough Chamberlain
Penelope Jane Whatton
💍 1863/7768

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
23

Masterton, at present in Wellington
Porirua Road

3 days
5 years

The Private Residence of Mr. Joseph Whalton, Porirua Road

398

1 September 1863

The Rev. John Muir

No	68
Date of Notice	1 September 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Giles Edinborough Chamberlain	Penelope Jane Whalton
BDM Match (98%)	Giles Edinborough Chamberlain	Penelope Jane Whatton
	💍 1863/7768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton, at present in Wellington	Porirua Road
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	The Private Residence of Mr. Joseph Whalton, Porirua Road
Folio	398
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Muir

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).