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 053

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

2192

25 February 1865

George Halley Anderson
Julia Lynch

George Halley Anderson
Julia Lynch
💍 1865/5306

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
18

Auckland
Government Gardens Auckland

18 months
from birth

Roman Catholic Church Panmure

John Lynch, Father

25 February 1865

Rev. H J Fynes

No	2192
Date of Notice	25 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Halley Anderson	Julia Lynch
	💍 1865/5306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Government Gardens Auckland
Length of Residence	18 months	from birth
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Panmure
Folio
Consent	John Lynch, Father
Date of Certificate	25 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. H J Fynes

2193

25 February 1865

William Williamson
Margaret Henderson

William Williamson
Margaret Henderson
💍 1865/4220

Bachelor
Spinster

Currier

28
21

Wakefield Street, Auckland
Hepburn Street Auckland

1 week
4 months

House of Alexr Henderson in Hepburn Street Auckland

25 February 1865

Rev. D. Bruce

No	2193
Date of Notice	25 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Williamson	Margaret Henderson
	💍 1865/4220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Currier
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Wakefield Street, Auckland	Hepburn Street Auckland
Length of Residence	1 week	4 months
Marriage Place	House of Alexr Henderson in Hepburn Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Bruce

2194

25 February 1865

Edward Clarke
Helen Nicholls

Edward Clarke
Ellen Nicholls
💍 1865/5321

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

28
22

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

6 mths
9 years

Church of England Otahuhu

25 February 1865

Rev. F. Gould

No	2194
Date of Notice	25 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Clarke	Helen Nicholls
BDM Match (93%)	Edward Clarke	Ellen Nicholls
	💍 1865/5321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	6 mths	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Otahuhu
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Gould

2195

25 February 1865

Felix Monaghan
Julia Foley
formerly Foley

Felix Monaghan
Julia Foley
💍 1865/5294

Widower
Widow

Soldier, 70th Regt

36
36

Otahuhu
Howick

17 days
10 years

Roman Catholic Church Howick

25 February 1865

Rev. H. J. Fynes

No	2195
Date of Notice	25 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Monaghan	Julia Foley formerly Foley
	💍 1865/5294
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Soldier, 70th Regt
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Howick
Length of Residence	17 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Howick
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Fynes

2196

27 February 1865

Thomas Minetti
Margaret O'Donnell
formerly Gunn

Thomas Minetti
Margarite O'Donnell
💍 1865/5378

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Dressmaker

34
25

Hobson Street, Auckland
Union Street Auckland

10 mths
8 years

St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church Parnell

27 February 1865

Rev. Ottavius Barsanti

No	2196
Date of Notice	27 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Minetti	Margaret O'Donnell formerly Gunn
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Minetti	Margarite O'Donnell
	💍 1865/5378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Dressmaker
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Hobson Street, Auckland	Union Street Auckland
Length of Residence	10 mths	8 years
Marriage Place	St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church Parnell
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ottavius Barsanti

2197

28 February 1865

William McKenzie
Victoria Maria Busby

William McKenzie
Victoria Maria Busley
💍 1865/4421

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Servant

32
24

Abercrombie Street Auckland
Official Bay Auckland

2 years
2 years

Baptist Chapel Wellesley Street Auckland

28 February 1865

Rev. P H. Cornford

No	2197
Date of Notice	28 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKenzie	Victoria Maria Busby
BDM Match (95%)	William McKenzie	Victoria Maria Busley
	💍 1865/4421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Servant
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Abercrombie Street Auckland	Official Bay Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Chapel Wellesley Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. P H. Cornford

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).