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 137

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1864 Registrar John Elisha Smith

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

21 December 1863

Peter Doile
Martha Hait

Peter Doile
Martha Haite
💍 1864/8575

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

30 years
20 years

Wellington
Wellington

4 1/2 years
about 5 years

St. Paul's Church Thorndon

64/551

William Hait, Father of Martha Hait

6 January 1864

The Rev Fred Thatcher M A and others

No	99
Date of Notice	21 December 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Doile	Martha Hait
BDM Match (96%)	Peter Doile	Martha Haite
	💍 1864/8575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	30 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	about 5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio	64/551
Consent	William Hait, Father of Martha Hait
Date of Certificate	6 January 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev Fred Thatcher M A and others

100

23 December 1863

William John Williams
Catherine Jane Andrews

William John Williams
Catherine Jane Andrews
💍 1863/7871

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter & Joiner

These appeared in last Quarter's Return

Rev Joshua Smith

No	100
Date of Notice	23 December 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Williams	Catherine Jane Andrews
	💍 1863/7871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter & Joiner
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	These appeared in last Quarter's Return
Officiating Minister	Rev Joshua Smith

101

26 December 1863

Thomas Smith
Elizabeth Alice Monk

Thomas Smith
Elizabeth Alice Monk
💍 1863/7880

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockholder

These appeared in last Quarter's Return

Registrar

No	101
Date of Notice	26 December 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Smith	Elizabeth Alice Monk
	💍 1863/7880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockholder
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	These appeared in last Quarter's Return
Officiating Minister	Registrar

102

31 December 1863

Thomas Gaffney
Agnes Boyson

Thomas Gaffney
Agnes Bayson
💍 1864/8581

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26 years
22 years

Wellington
Wellington

16 months
many years

St. Peters' Church Willis Street

64/553

8 January 1864

The Rev Arthur Stock B A and others

No	102
Date of Notice	31 December 1863
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gaffney	Agnes Boyson
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Gaffney	Agnes Bayson
	💍 1864/8581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 months	many years
Marriage Place	St. Peters' Church Willis Street
Folio	64/553
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev Arthur Stock B A and others

103

4 January 1864

Edward Williams
Mary Ann Field

Edward Williams
Mary Anne Field
💍 1864/8578

Widower
Spinster

Mariner

28 years
20 years

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

2 years
6 years

Church of England at the Upper Hutt known as "St. Johns"

64/552

William Field, Father of Mary Ann Field

4 January 1864

The Rev. John Edward Herring and others

No	103
Date of Notice	4 January 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Williams	Mary Ann Field
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Williams	Mary Anne Field
	💍 1864/8578
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at the Upper Hutt known as "St. Johns"
Folio	64/552
Consent	William Field, Father of Mary Ann Field
Date of Certificate	4 January 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Edward Herring and others

104

6 January 1864

William Feist
Jane Brownsea

William Feist
Jane Brownsea
💍 1864/8587

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

30 years
28 years

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
about 6 years

In the Private Residence of Mr. William Randall, on the Karori Road

64/555

21 January 1864

The Rev. John Moir and others

No	104
Date of Notice	6 January 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Feist	Jane Brownsea
	💍 1864/8587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	30 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	about 6 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of Mr. William Randall, on the Karori Road
Folio	64/555
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir 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).