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 128

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

12 February 1863

William Gray
Isabella Burnett

William Gray
Isabella Burnett
💍 1863/7796

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
23

Taita
Taita

5 years
22 years

In the Private Residence of Mr Samuel Burnett at the Taita

63/408

27 February 1863

The Rev. John C[illegible] and others

No	16
Date of Notice	12 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gray	Isabella Burnett
	💍 1863/7796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Taita	Taita
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr Samuel Burnett at the Taita
Folio	63/408
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John C[illegible] and others

12 February 1863

John Pike
Elizabeth Burnett

John Pike
Elizth Burnett
💍 1863/7793

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

23 years
21 years and 6 months

Taita
Taita

5 years
21 years and 6 months

In the Private Residence of Mr. Samuel Burnett, at the Taita

63/407

27 February 1863

The Rev. John C[illegible] and others

No	17
Date of Notice	12 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pike	Elizabeth Burnett
BDM Match (91%)	John Pike	Elizth Burnett
	💍 1863/7793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	23 years	21 years and 6 months
Dwelling Place	Taita	Taita
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years and 6 months
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. Samuel Burnett, at the Taita
Folio	63/407
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John C[illegible] and others

12 February 1863

John Jenkins
Sarah Duckworth

John Jenkins
Sarah Duckworth
💍 1863/7708

Bachelor
Widow

Mariner
Relict of William Duckworth, deceased

39
29

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
about 16 years

In the Private Residence of the Rev. John Moir, in Wellington

63/377

12 February 1863

The Rev. John Moir and others

No	18
Date of Notice	12 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jenkins	Sarah Duckworth
	💍 1863/7708
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mariner	Relict of William Duckworth, deceased
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	about 16 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of the Rev. John Moir, in Wellington
Folio	63/377
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir and others

12 February 1863

James Smith
Susannah Farr

James Smith
Susannah Farr
💍 1863/7874

Bachelor
Widow

Grazier

51
52

Wainuinu, at present Wellington
Wainuinu, Wellington

3 days
14 days

Office of Registrar of marriages Wellington

63/437

13 February 1863

Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington, and others.

No	19
Date of Notice	12 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Susannah Farr
	💍 1863/7874
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Grazier
Age	51	52
Dwelling Place	Wainuinu, at present Wellington	Wainuinu, Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages Wellington
Folio	63/437
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1863
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington, and others.

21 February 1863

William Michael Wallace
Catherine Phelan

William Michael Wallace
Catherine Phelan
💍 1863/7684

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

34
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
2 years

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

63/368

21 February 1863

The Right Rev. Father in God Dr. Viard and others.

No	20
Date of Notice	21 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Michael Wallace	Catherine Phelan
	💍 1863/7684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Chapel, known as St Mary's, situate at Thorndon
Folio	63/368
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Father in God Dr. Viard 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 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).