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 060

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 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

2234

3 April 1865

William Padden Snell
Margaret Elizabeth Motion

William Padden Snell
Margaret Elizabeth Motion
💍 1865/4709

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel-Keeper

28
24

Onehunga
Onehunga

1 year
4 day

St Peter's Church, Onehunga

3 April 1865

Rev. A. G. Purchas

No	2234
Date of Notice	3 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Padden Snell	Margaret Elizabeth Motion
	💍 1865/4709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel-Keeper
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	1 year	4 day
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Purchas

2235

3 April 1865

Joseph Wilson
Susan Boyt

Joseph Wilson
Susan Boyt
💍 1865/5657

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

27
15

Little Muddy Creek
Little Muddy Creek

3 years
From birth

House of Richard Lee - Little Muddy Creek

3 April 1865

Rev. R. Laishley

No	2235
Date of Notice	3 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Wilson	Susan Boyt
	💍 1865/5657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	27	15
Dwelling Place	Little Muddy Creek	Little Muddy Creek
Length of Residence	3 years	From birth
Marriage Place	House of Richard Lee - Little Muddy Creek
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Laishley

2236

4 April 1865

James Baley
Caroline Sweeting

James Baley
Caroline Sweeting
💍 1865/5420

Bachelor
Spinster

Stonemason
Servant

29
28

Wynyard Pier, Auckland
Wynyard Pier, Auckland

13 mths
6 mths

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Edwardes Street

4 April 1865

Rev. Wm Colley

No	2236
Date of Notice	4 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Baley	Caroline Sweeting
	💍 1865/5420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stonemason	Servant
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Wynyard Pier, Auckland	Wynyard Pier, Auckland
Length of Residence	13 mths	6 mths
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Edwardes Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Colley

2237

3 April 1865

William Hately
Amelia Louisa Sadgrove

William Hately
Amelia Louisa Sadgrove
💍 1865/4907

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

34
27

Onehunga
Onehunga

6 mths
2 weeks

House of Rev. Geo. Brown, Onehunga

3 May 1865

Rev. Geo. Brown

No	2237
Date of Notice	3 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hately	Amelia Louisa Sadgrove
	💍 1865/4907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	6 mths	2 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Geo. Brown, Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Brown

2238

4 April 1865

Charles Smith
Sarah Jane Jennings

Charles Smith
Sarah Jane Jennings
💍 1865/4541

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Milliner

29
22

Wellington St. Auckland
Wellington St. Auckland

3 years
3 years

House of Mr. R Jennings Wellington Street. Auckland

4 April 1865

Rev. E N Bree

No	2238
Date of Notice	4 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Smith	Sarah Jane Jennings
	💍 1865/4541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Milliner
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington St. Auckland	Wellington St. Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. R Jennings Wellington Street. Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E N Bree

2239

5 April 1865

Charles Carter
Elizabeth Mary Cavanagh

Charles Carter
Elizabeth Mary Cavanagh
💍 1865/4538

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

36
27

Hobson Street, Auckland
Elliot Street, Auckland

15 mths
18 mths

St Matthews Church, Auckland

5 April 1865

Rev. E. N. Bree

No	2239
Date of Notice	5 April 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Carter	Elizabeth Mary Cavanagh
	💍 1865/4538
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Hobson Street, Auckland	Elliot Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	15 mths	18 mths
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. N. Bree

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).