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 127

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

19 January 1863

John Clark
Harriett Agola

John Clark
Harriet Agola
💍 1863/3721

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

27 years
23 years

Hawkestone St, Wellington
Johnsonville

5 years
5 years

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street

63/424

4 February 1863

The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

No	11
Date of Notice	19 January 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clark	Harriett Agola
BDM Match (96%)	John Clark	Harriet Agola
	💍 1863/3721
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Hawkestone St, Wellington	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street
Folio	63/424
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

28 January 1863

Alfred Searle
Fanny Jeffs

Alfred Searle
Fanny Jeffs
💍 1863/7838

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

25 years
17 years

Kai Wara Wara
Wellington

2 1/2 years
17 years

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

63/423

George Jeffs, father of Fanny Jeffs

28 January 1863

The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

No	12
Date of Notice	28 January 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Searle	Fanny Jeffs
	💍 1863/7838
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	25 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Kai Wara Wara	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of the Rev. Joshua Smith in Sydney Street
Folio	63/423
Consent	George Jeffs, father of Fanny Jeffs
Date of Certificate	28 January 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith and others

4 February 1863

Samuel Gawith
Eleanor Edger

Samuel Ganish
Eleanor Edgar
💍 1863/7636

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

46 years
40 years

Karori
Wellington

14 years
about 10 years

St Paul's Church, Thorndon

63/350

4 February 1863

The Rev. Frederick Thatcher M.A. and others

No	13
Date of Notice	4 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gawith	Eleanor Edger
BDM Match (88%)	Samuel Ganish	Eleanor Edgar
	💍 1863/7636
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	46 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	Karori	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	about 10 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Thorndon
Folio	63/350
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Frederick Thatcher M.A. and others

6 February 1863

George Brown
Elizabeth Jane Kinniburgh

George Brown
Elizabeth Jane Kinniburg
💍 1863/7753

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26 years
20 years

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
20 years

In the Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street

63/393

The consent of David Kinniburgh, Father of Elizabeth Jane Kinniburgh

16 February 1863

The Rev. John Aldred and others

No	14
Date of Notice	6 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brown	Elizabeth Jane Kinniburgh
BDM Match (98%)	George Brown	Elizabeth Jane Kinniburg
	💍 1863/7753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street
Folio	63/393
Consent	The consent of David Kinniburgh, Father of Elizabeth Jane Kinniburgh
Date of Certificate	16 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Aldred and others

10 February 1863

James Porter
Mary Ellen Trask

James Porter
Mary Ellen Trask
💍 1863/7790

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

30 years
25 years

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
3 years

Wesleyan Chapel - Manners Street, Wellington

63/406

10 February 1863

The Rev. John Crump and others

No	15
Date of Notice	10 February 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Porter	Mary Ellen Trask
	💍 1863/7790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	30 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel - Manners Street, Wellington
Folio	63/406
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Crump 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).