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 126

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

7 January 1863

Richard Septimus Ledger
Sarah Jane Hickson

Richard Septimus Ledger
Sarah Jane Hickson
💍 1863/7663

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

30
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
18 years

St. Peters Church, Willis Street

63/360

William Hickson, father of Sarah Jane Hickson

7 January 1863

The Rev. Arthur Stock B A and others

No	6
Date of Notice	7 January 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Septimus Ledger	Sarah Jane Hickson
	💍 1863/7663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Willis Street
Folio	63/360
Consent	William Hickson, father of Sarah Jane Hickson
Date of Certificate	7 January 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock B A and others

8 January 1863

Peter McEwen
Sarah Daysh

Peter McEwen
Sarah Daysh
💍 1863/7826

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

24
18

Lambton Quay, Wellington
Wellington

19 years
18 years

In the Private Residence of Mr. John Daysh, at the Taita

63/419

John Daysh, father of Sarah Daysh

8 January 1863

The Rev. Joshua [UNCLEAR] and others

No	7
Date of Notice	8 January 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter McEwen	Sarah Daysh
	💍 1863/7826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Lambton Quay, Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. John Daysh, at the Taita
Folio	63/419
Consent	John Daysh, father of Sarah Daysh
Date of Certificate	8 January 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua [UNCLEAR] and others

12 January 1863

Reuben Short
Mary Ann Clifton

Reuben Short
Mary Ann Clifton
💍 1863/7787

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
(Relict of Richard Clifton, deceased)

30
30

Ohiro
Ohiro

13 months
21 years

In the Private Residence of Mr. Southey, at the Lower Hutt

63/405

28 January 1863

The Rev. John [UNCLEAR] and others

No	8
Date of Notice	12 January 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Short	Mary Ann Clifton
	💍 1863/7787
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	(Relict of Richard Clifton, deceased)
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Ohiro	Ohiro
Length of Residence	13 months	21 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. Southey, at the Lower Hutt
Folio	63/405
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John [UNCLEAR] and others

13 January 1863

John Wallis
Eliza Hart

John Wallis
Eliza Hart
💍 1863/7832

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

24
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
18 years

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

63/421

Edward Hart, father of Eliza Hart

13 January 1863

The Rev. Joshua [UNCLEAR] and others

No	9
Date of Notice	13 January 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wallis	Eliza Hart
	💍 1863/7832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of the Rev. Joshua Smith, in Sydney Sheet
Folio	63/421
Consent	Edward Hart, father of Eliza Hart
Date of Certificate	13 January 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua [UNCLEAR] and others

14 January 1863

Dean Francis Burt
Jane White

Dean Francis Burt
Jane White
💍 1863/7705

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

25
25

Hutt
Hutt

4 years
20 years

Private Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Wellington

63/376

29 January 1863

The Rev. John [UNCLEAR] and others

No	10
Date of Notice	14 January 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dean Francis Burt	Jane White
	💍 1863/7705
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Wellington
Folio	63/376
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John [UNCLEAR] 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).