Intentions to Marry, 1864

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840376, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 140

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1864

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

23 February 1864

Joseph Archer
Frances Brown

Joseph Archer
Frances Brown
💍 1864/8160

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

25 years
17 years and upwards

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
many years

Church of England in Willis Street known as "St Peters"

64/569

John Brown, father of Frances Brown

4 March 1864

The Rev. Arthur Stock B A and others

No	15
Date of Notice	23 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Archer	Frances Brown
	💍 1864/8160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	25 years	17 years and upwards
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	many years
Marriage Place	Church of England in Willis Street known as "St Peters"
Folio	64/569
Consent	John Brown, father of Frances Brown
Date of Certificate	4 March 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock B A and others

25 February 1864

Edward Haslam
Mary Ann Flyger

Edward Haslam
May A Flyger
💍 1864/8127

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter

39
24

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
8 years

In the Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street known as St Mary's

64/558

25 February 1864

The Rev J J P O'Rielly and others

No	16
Date of Notice	25 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Haslam	Mary Ann Flyger
BDM Match (90%)	Edward Haslam	May A Flyger
	💍 1864/8127
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	39	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street known as St Mary's
Folio	64/558
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev J J P O'Rielly and others

29 February 1864

Christopher Goodison
Mary Ann Florence

Christopher Goodison
Mary Ann Florence
💍 1864/8154

Bachelor
Widow

Tin-smith

40
45

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
4 years

In the Private residence of Mr Hy Kells in Willis Street

64/567

29 February 1864

The Rev John Aldred and others

No	17
Date of Notice	29 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Goodison	Mary Ann Florence
	💍 1864/8154
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Tin-smith
Age	40	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Private residence of Mr Hy Kells in Willis Street
Folio	64/567
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev John Aldred and others

29 February 1864

Frederick Henry Revell
Jean Smith

Frederick Henry Revell
Jean Smith
💍 1864/8157

Bachelor
Spinster

Sergeant Major Colonial Defence Force

33 years
21 years and 4 months

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
3 days

Barretts Hotel Lambton Quay

64/568

29 February 1864

The Rev John Aldred and others

No	18
Date of Notice	29 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Revell	Jean Smith
	💍 1864/8157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sergeant Major Colonial Defence Force
Age	33 years	21 years and 4 months
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Barretts Hotel Lambton Quay
Folio	64/568
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 February 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev John Aldred and others

12 March 1864

Robert Whiley
Ann Collis

Robert Whiley
Ann Collis
💍 1864/8163

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25 years
20 years and 3 mos

Wainuiomata
Wainuiomata

7 months
many years

The Wesleyan Chapel at Wainuiomata

64/570

Richard Collis father of Ann Collis

12 March 1864

The Rev. John Crump and others

No	19
Date of Notice	12 March 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Whiley	Ann Collis
	💍 1864/8163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25 years	20 years and 3 mos
Dwelling Place	Wainuiomata	Wainuiomata
Length of Residence	7 months	many years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Chapel at Wainuiomata
Folio	64/570
Consent	Richard Collis father of Ann Collis
Date of Certificate	12 March 1864
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).