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 139

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

149

8 February 1864

William John Dark
Hannah Remnant

William John Dark
Hannah Remnant
💍 1864/8148

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Servant of James Remnant Esq.

35
36

Wellington
Wellington

6 weeks
about 17 years

In the Private Residence of [UNCLEAR] Dark and others

564

8 February 1864

The Rev. John Aldred

No	149
Date of Notice	8 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Dark	Hannah Remnant
	💍 1864/8148
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Servant of James Remnant Esq.
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	about 17 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of [UNCLEAR] Dark and others
Folio	564
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Aldred

150

13 February 1864

John Mee
Mary Nichols

John Mee
Mary D Nicholl
💍 1864/8139

Widower
Widow

Labourer

45
about 40 years

Wellington
Wellington

about 18 years
about 12 years

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

561

[UNCLEAR]

No	150
Date of Notice	13 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mee	Mary Nichols
BDM Match (89%)	John Mee	Mary D Nicholl
	💍 1864/8139
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	about 40 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 18 years	about 12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel in Manners Street known as 'St Mary's'
Folio	561
Consent
Date of Certificate	[UNCLEAR]
Officiating Minister	[UNCLEAR]

151

16 February 1864

David Henry Nott
Edith Fleming

David Henry Nott
Edith Fleming
💍 1864/8142

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
4 days

Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street Wellington

562

16 February 1864

The Rev. John Aldred

No	151
Date of Notice	16 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Henry Nott	Edith Fleming
	💍 1864/8142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel in Manners Street Wellington
Folio	562
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Aldred

152

20 February 1864

Thomas George
Matilda Whatton

Thomas Rogerson
Matilda Whatton
💍 1864/8151

Bachelor
Spinster

Cattle dealer

37
18

Porirua Road
Porirua Road

5 months
6 months

Residence of Mr. Joseph Whatton Porirua Road

563

Joseph Whatton, Father of Matilda Whatton

20 February 1864

The Rev. John Aldred

No	152
Date of Notice	20 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas George	Matilda Whatton
BDM Match (77%)	Thomas Rogerson	Matilda Whatton
	💍 1864/8151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cattle dealer
Age	37	18
Dwelling Place	Porirua Road	Porirua Road
Length of Residence	5 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Joseph Whatton Porirua Road
Folio	563
Consent	Joseph Whatton, Father of Matilda Whatton
Date of Certificate	20 February 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Aldred

153

22 February 1864

Hugh Sancton
Ann Harrison

Hugh Lamont Greer
Ann Harrison
💍 1864/4977

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
28

Hutt Valley
Wellington

10 years
5 years

Private Residence of Mrs. Matilda Sancton Lambton Quay

566

22 February 1864

The Rev. Joshua Smith

No	153
Date of Notice	22 February 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Sancton	Ann Harrison
BDM Match (71%)	Hugh Lamont Greer	Ann Harrison
	💍 1864/4977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Hutt Valley	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mrs. Matilda Sancton Lambton Quay
Folio	566
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Joshua Smith

154

9 March 1864

Wallace Laurence
Caroline Meyrick

William Laurence
Caroline Meyrick
💍 1865/6197

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
7 years

In the Private Residence of The Rev. John Aldred Manners Street

9 March 1864

The Rev. John Aldred

No	154
Date of Notice	9 March 1864
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Laurence	Caroline Meyrick
BDM Match (88%)	William Laurence	Caroline Meyrick
	💍 1865/6197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the Private Residence of The Rev. John Aldred Manners Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1864
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Aldred

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).