1865 Intentions to Marry

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840377, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 040

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1865

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

2114

11 January 1865

Hugh George Oswald
Mary Frances Little

Hugh George Oswald
Mary Francis Little
💍 1865/4763

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

29
19

Barrack Street Auckland
Barrack Street Auckland

15 months
18 months

House of Mr. J. Gilbert, Barrack Street, Auckland

M. Rountree, Guardian

11 January 1865

Rev. John Warren

No	2114
Date of Notice	11 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh George Oswald	Mary Frances Little
BDM Match (97%)	Hugh George Oswald	Mary Francis Little
	💍 1865/4763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Barrack Street Auckland	Barrack Street Auckland
Length of Residence	15 months	18 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Gilbert, Barrack Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent	M. Rountree, Guardian
Date of Certificate	11 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Warren

2115

12 January 1865

John Smith
Mary Ann Brown

John Smith
Mary Ann Brown
💍 1865/5312

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
20

Papakura
Papakura

3 years
3 years

Church of England Otahuhu

John Brown, Father

14 January 1865

Rev. F. Gould

No	2115
Date of Notice	12 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Mary Ann Brown
	💍 1865/5312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Otahuhu
Folio
Consent	John Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Gould

2116

12 January 1865

Henry Gillespie
Sarah Teresa Gibbons

Henry Gillespie
Sarah Theresa Gibbons
💍 1865/5672

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw Mill manager

27
19

Huia
Huia

6 years
12 years

House of M J Chief Justice Arney

12 January 1865

Rev. Richard Laishley

No	2116
Date of Notice	12 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gillespie	Sarah Teresa Gibbons
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Gillespie	Sarah Theresa Gibbons
	💍 1865/5672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw Mill manager
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Huia	Huia
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	House of M J Chief Justice Arney
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Laishley

2117

13 January 1865

Joseph Cawtheray
Mary Jane Whitehead

Joseph Cawtheray
Mary Jane Whitehead
💍 1864/4563

Bachelor
Spinster

Millwright

23
20

Onehunga
Onehunga

1 week
1 week

St. Peters Church Onehunga

3 February 1865

Rev. A.G. Purchas

No	2117
Date of Notice	13 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Cawtheray	Mary Jane Whitehead
	💍 1864/4563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millwright
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.G. Purchas

2118

13 January 1865

William Henry Smith
Amey Hamerton

William Henry
Amey Hamerton
💍 1865/4865

Bachelor
Spinster

Store Keeper
Governess

49
35

Parnell
Whau Road

9 years
4 years

House of Miss Amey Hamerton, Whau Road

13 January 1865

Rev. Thomas Hamer

No	2118
Date of Notice	13 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Smith	Amey Hamerton
BDM Match (84%)	William Henry	Amey Hamerton
	💍 1865/4865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store Keeper	Governess
Age	49	35
Dwelling Place	Parnell	Whau Road
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Miss Amey Hamerton, Whau Road
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Hamer

2119

14 January 1865

Andrew Stewart
Christina Watson Forsyth

Andrew Stewart
Christina Watson Forsyth
💍 1865/4952

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

28
22

Pitt Street Auckland
Auckland

3 years
5 days

House of Mrs. Gorrie, Pitt Street Auckland

14 January 1865

Rev. James Hill

No	2119
Date of Notice	14 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Stewart	Christina Watson Forsyth
	💍 1865/4952
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Pitt Street Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	5 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Gorrie, Pitt Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hill

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

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).