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 057

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1865 Registrar John M Wayland

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

2216

13 March 1865

William Blackett Richardson
Ann Jane McBCutcheon

William Blackett Richardson
Ann Jane McCutcheon
💍 1864/4581

Widower
Spinster

Engine Smith

30
18

Grey Street Auckland
Auckland

1 year
3 years

St Peters Church Onehunga

A G Purchas, Guardian

13 March 1865

Rev A.G. Purchas

No	2216
Date of Notice	13 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Blackett Richardson	Ann Jane McBCutcheon
BDM Match (98%)	William Blackett Richardson	Ann Jane McCutcheon
	💍 1864/4581
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine Smith
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Grey Street Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Onehunga
Folio
Consent	A G Purchas, Guardian
Date of Certificate	13 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev A.G. Purchas

2217

15 March 1865

Samuel Rymes
Ann Gibson

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatman
Servant

26
21

Graham Street, Auckland
Graham Street Auckland

2 mths
2 mths

House of Mrs Coles, Asher's Buildings, Auckland

March 1865

Rev T. Hamer

No	2217
Date of Notice	15 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Rymes	Ann Gibson
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatman	Servant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Graham Street, Auckland	Graham Street Auckland
Length of Residence	2 mths	2 mths
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Coles, Asher's Buildings, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev T. Hamer

2218

15 March 1865

James Gartside Culpan
Mary Ann Hedgcock

James Gartside Culpam
Mary Anne Hedgcock
💍 1865/4080

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Governess

21
22

Wakefield Street Auckland
Queen Street Auckland

18 years
5 years

Independent Chapel Remuera

March 1865

Rev James F Mandeno

No	2218
Date of Notice	15 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gartside Culpan	Mary Ann Hedgcock
BDM Match (95%)	James Gartside Culpam	Mary Anne Hedgcock
	💍 1865/4080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Governess
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Wakefield Street Auckland	Queen Street Auckland
Length of Residence	18 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Independent Chapel Remuera
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev James F Mandeno

2219

17 March 1865

Richard Kenney
Johanna Jones

Richard Kenney
Johanna Jones
💍 1865/4424

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

23
27

Booth Street, Auckland
Karangahape Rd. Auckland

10 mths
4 mths

House of Mrs Odlum, Cook St, Auckland

17 March 1865

Rev -

No	2219
Date of Notice	17 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Kenney	Johanna Jones
	💍 1865/4424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Booth Street, Auckland	Karangahape Rd. Auckland
Length of Residence	10 mths	4 mths
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Odlum, Cook St, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev -

2220

17March 1865

Edward Johnson Upham
Rosetta Wedgwood
formerly Taylor

Edward Johnson Upham
Rosetta Wedgwood
💍 1865/4970

Bachelor
Widow

Bank Clerk

24
25

Hobson Street Auckland
Nelson Street Auckland

1 10/12 yrs
6 yrs

House of Mrs Price, Nelson Street, Auckland

31 March 1865

Rev James Hill

No	2220
Date of Notice	17March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Johnson Upham	Rosetta Wedgwood formerly Taylor
	💍 1865/4970
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Hobson Street Auckland	Nelson Street Auckland
Length of Residence	1 10/12 yrs	6 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Price, Nelson Street, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev James Hill

2221

18 March 1865

William Smith
Mary Bomjuani
formerly Botoph

William Smith
Mary Bompiani
💍 1865/4658

Widower
Widow

Agent

51
36

Auckland
Auckland

1 month
6 month

Office of Registrar of Marriages Auckland

18 March 1865

Registrar of Marriages

No	2221
Date of Notice	18 March 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith	Mary Bomjuani formerly Botoph
BDM Match (92%)	William Smith	Mary Bompiani
	💍 1865/4658
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Agent
Age	51	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 month	6 month
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1865
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).