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 075

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1863 Registrar John B. Bennett

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]56

8 July 1863

Benjamin Edwards
Ellen Hollingsworth

Benjamin Edwards
Ellen Hollingsworth
💍 1863/7076

Bachelor
Widow

Teacher
Housekeeper

21
29

North Shore
North Shore

3 months
8 months

St. Mary's College, North Shore

63/156

8 July 1863

Revd. Walter McDonald

No	[15]56
Date of Notice	8 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Edwards	Ellen Hollingsworth
	💍 1863/7076
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Teacher	Housekeeper
Age	21	29
Dwelling Place	North Shore	North Shore
Length of Residence	3 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's College, North Shore
Folio	63/156
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd. Walter McDonald

[15]57

11 July 1863

Alexander McLearn
Mary McGrath

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

35
33

Papatoetoe
Papatoetoe

2 1/2 years
7 years

The dwelling house of Mary McGrath, at Papatortoe

11 July 1863

Revd. Michael D. O'Hara

No	[15]57
Date of Notice	11 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McLearn	Mary McGrath
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Papatoetoe	Papatoetoe
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mary McGrath, at Papatortoe
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd. Michael D. O'Hara

[15]58

13 July 1863

Patrick Bonpild
Mary Shanaghan

Patrick Banfield
Mary Shanaghan
💍 1863/7082

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Servant

21
21

Nelson Street, Auckland
Official Bay, Auckland

16 years
2 years

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, in Auckland

63/159

3 August 1863

Right Revd. Bishop Pompallier

No	[15]58
Date of Notice	13 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Bonpild	Mary Shanaghan
BDM Match (91%)	Patrick Banfield	Mary Shanaghan
	💍 1863/7082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Servant
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Nelson Street, Auckland	Official Bay, Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, in Auckland
Folio	63/159
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1863
Officiating Minister	Right Revd. Bishop Pompallier

[15]59

14 July 1863

John George Freer
Ann Josephine Bethel

John George Freer
Ann Josephine Bethel
💍 1863/3439

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

33
16

High Street, Auckland
High Street, Auckland

8 months
From Birth

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Auckland

63/158

No person in Colony having Authority

3 August 1863

Very Revd. James McDonald

No	[15]59
Date of Notice	14 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Freer	Ann Josephine Bethel
	💍 1863/3439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	33	16
Dwelling Place	High Street, Auckland	High Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	8 months	From Birth
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio	63/158
Consent	No person in Colony having Authority
Date of Certificate	3 August 1863
Officiating Minister	Very Revd. James McDonald

[15]60

16 July 1863

James Henry Hayr Siggs
Eliza Hair

James Henry Hayr Siggs
Eliza Hair
💍 1863/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican

28
21 9/12

Onehunga
Mr. George May's Dwelling house, Back of Mount[?] St. John

8 years
6 months

The dwelling house of Mr. George May, Back of Mount[?] St. John St, near Auckland

63/33

16 July 1863

Revd. David Bruce

No	[15]60
Date of Notice	16 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Hayr Siggs	Eliza Hair
	💍 1863/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	28	21 9/12
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Mr. George May's Dwelling house, Back of Mount[?] St. John
Length of Residence	8 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mr. George May, Back of Mount[?] St. John St, near Auckland
Folio	63/33
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1863
Officiating Minister	Revd. David Bruce

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).