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 140

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

15 July 1863

Edward Carter
Mary Ann Brown

Edward Carter
Mary Ann Brown
💍 1863/7720

Bachelor
Widow

Settler
Relict of John Gibson Brown decd

23 years
25 years

Pahautanui
Pahautanui

4 years
8 years

In the Private Residence of Mr. William Carter, in the Tinakori Road

381

July 1863

The Rev. John and others

No	54
Date of Notice	15 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Carter	Mary Ann Brown
	💍 1863/7720
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Settler	Relict of John Gibson Brown decd
Age	23 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. William Carter, in the Tinakori Road
Folio	381
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John and others

20 July 1863

Henry Newson
Sophia Ann Powsett

Henry Newson
Sophia Ann Dowsett
💍 1863/7859

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22 years
20 years

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
6 years

In the Private Residence of Mr. Abraham Powsett, at the Tinakori Road

431

Abraham Powsett, father of Sophia Ann Powsett

July 1863

The Rev. Joshua and others

No	55
Date of Notice	20 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Newson	Sophia Ann Powsett
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Newson	Sophia Ann Dowsett
	💍 1863/7859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	6 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. Abraham Powsett, at the Tinakori Road
Folio	431
Consent	Abraham Powsett, father of Sophia Ann Powsett
Date of Certificate	July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua and others

20 July 1863

Stephen Judd
Fanny Frances Kilmister

Stephen Judd
Fanny Frances Kilmister
💍 1863/7853

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

25 years
19 years

Upper Hutt
Karori

10 years
19 years

In the Private Residence of The Rev. Joshua Smith, in Sydney Street

429

John Kilmister, father of Fanny Frances Kilmister

July 1863

The Rev. Joshua and others

No	56
Date of Notice	20 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Judd	Fanny Frances Kilmister
	💍 1863/7853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	25 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Karori
Length of Residence	10 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of The Rev. Joshua Smith, in Sydney Street
Folio	429
Consent	John Kilmister, father of Fanny Frances Kilmister
Date of Certificate	July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua and others

21 July 1863

John Prince
Mary Browther

John Prince
Mary Crowther
💍 1863/7856

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25 years
18 years

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
18 years

In the Private Residence of John Prince, in the Tinakori Road

430

Eliza Browther, mother of Mary Browther

August 1863

The Rev. Joshua and others

No	57
Date of Notice	21 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Prince	Mary Browther
BDM Match (96%)	John Prince	Mary Crowther
	💍 1863/7856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of John Prince, in the Tinakori Road
Folio	430
Consent	Eliza Browther, mother of Mary Browther
Date of Certificate	August 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua and others

23 July 1863

William Handley
Mary Ann Floyd

William Hanaley
Mary Ann Floyd
💍 1863/7762

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

28 years
20 years

Wanganui, at present residing in Wellington
Porirua

1 month
20 years and 11 months

In the House of Thomas Floyd, at Porirua, known as "the Travellers Rest"

396

Thomas Floyd, father of Mary Ann Floyd

July 1863

The Rev. John and others

No	58
Date of Notice	23 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Handley	Mary Ann Floyd
BDM Match (97%)	William Hanaley	Mary Ann Floyd
	💍 1863/7762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Wanganui, at present residing in Wellington	Porirua
Length of Residence	1 month	20 years and 11 months
Marriage Place	In the House of Thomas Floyd, at Porirua, known as "the Travellers Rest"
Folio	396
Consent	Thomas Floyd, father of Mary Ann Floyd
Date of Certificate	July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John and others

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).