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 139

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

2 July 1863

Daniel Isely
Rosanna Butler

Daniel Cooley
Rosanna Butler
💍 1863/7808

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29 years
17 years

Hutt
Hutt

4 years
17 years

Private Residence of Thomas Butler, Hutt

412

Thomas Butler, father of Rosanna Butler

2 July 1863

The Rev. John Bumby and others

No	49
Date of Notice	2 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Isely	Rosanna Butler
BDM Match (85%)	Daniel Cooley	Rosanna Butler
	💍 1863/7808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Thomas Butler, Hutt
Folio	412
Consent	Thomas Butler, father of Rosanna Butler
Date of Certificate	2 July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Bumby and others

2 July 1863

Thomas Broderick
Sarah Isabella Hobbs

Thomas Broderick
Clara Hobbs
💍 1863/7747

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27 years
20 years

Porirua Road
Porirua Road

10 years
20 years

Private Residence of Mrs Hobbs, Porirua Road

391

Sarah Isabella Hobbs, mother of Sarah Hobbs, and others

2 July 1863

The Rev. S. W. Scott, and others

No	50
Date of Notice	2 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Broderick	Sarah Isabella Hobbs
BDM Match (70%)	Thomas Broderick	Clara Hobbs
	💍 1863/7747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Porirua Road	Porirua Road
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mrs Hobbs, Porirua Road
Folio	391
Consent	Sarah Isabella Hobbs, mother of Sarah Hobbs, and others
Date of Certificate	2 July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. S. W. Scott, and others

6 July 1863

John Truck
Phebe Ann East

John Ruck
Phoebe Ann East
💍 1863/7759

Widower
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

36 years
34 years

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
about 4 years

Private Residence of Mr John Discon - Cuba Street Wellington

395

6 July 1863

The Rev. John Aldred, and others

No	51
Date of Notice	6 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Truck	Phebe Ann East
BDM Match (87%)	John Ruck	Phoebe Ann East
	💍 1863/7759
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	36 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	about 4 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mr John Discon - Cuba Street Wellington
Folio	395
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Aldred, and others

13 July 1863

William Burchill
Amy Slyger

William Churchill
Amy Flyger
💍 1863/7669

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23 years
21 years and 4 months

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
about 2 years

St Peters Church in Willis Street

362

28 July 1863

The Rev. Arthur Stock B.A. and others

No	52
Date of Notice	13 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Burchill	Amy Slyger
BDM Match (89%)	William Churchill	Amy Flyger
	💍 1863/7669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23 years	21 years and 4 months
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	about 2 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church in Willis Street
Folio	362
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock B.A. and others

14 July 1863

Henrich Christian Seffort
Elizabeth Pike

Henry Christian Sofoat
Elizabeth Pike
💍 1863/7699

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

23 years
15 years

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Chapel situate in Manners Street, known as "St Mary's"

394

William Pike, father of Elizabeth Pike

14 July 1863

The Rev. S. S. P. O'Reilly and others

No	53
Date of Notice	14 July 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henrich Christian Seffort	Elizabeth Pike
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Christian Sofoat	Elizabeth Pike
	💍 1863/7699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	23 years	15 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel situate in Manners Street, known as "St Mary's"
Folio	394
Consent	William Pike, father of Elizabeth Pike
Date of Certificate	14 July 1863
Officiating Minister	The Rev. S. S. P. O'Reilly and others

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).