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 069

District of Auckland Quarter ending Jan - Dec

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

2289

10 May 1865

George Rex
Ann Gifford

George Rix
Ann Clifford
💍 1865/5282

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

54
40

Kaukapakapa
Kaukapakapa

25 years
1

House of Mr Geo. Rex Kaukapakapa

10 May 1865

Rev Geo Kerr

No	2289
Date of Notice	10 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rex	Ann Gifford
BDM Match (87%)	George Rix	Ann Clifford
	💍 1865/5282
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	54	40
Dwelling Place	Kaukapakapa	Kaukapakapa
Length of Residence	25 years	1
Marriage Place	House of Mr Geo. Rex Kaukapakapa
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Kerr

2290

10 May 1865

Charles Peterson
Esther Sarah Bartlett

Charles Peterson
Esther Sarah Bartlett
💍 1865/5660

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

34
23

Onehunga
Shortland Street Auckland

3 days
2

House of Mr Thompson Onehunga

10 May 1865

Rev R. Lairdley

No	2290
Date of Notice	10 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Peterson	Esther Sarah Bartlett
	💍 1865/5660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Shortland Street Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2
Marriage Place	House of Mr Thompson Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Lairdley

2291

10 May 1865

Thomas Mann
Annie Eliza Watson

Thomas Mann
Annie Eliza Watson
💍 1865/5573

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

26
19

Wakefield Street Auckland
Parnell

6 years
14 years

House of Mr Thos Mann Baker Street Auckland

Ann Watson mother

10 May 1865

Rev Alex Macdonald

No	2291
Date of Notice	10 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mann	Annie Eliza Watson
	💍 1865/5573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wakefield Street Auckland	Parnell
Length of Residence	6 years	14 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Thos Mann Baker Street Auckland
Folio
Consent	Ann Watson mother
Date of Certificate	10 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev Alex Macdonald

2292

10 May 1865

Robert John Lyons
Margaret French

Robt John Lyons
Margaret Spence
💍 1865/4985

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
26

Queen Street Auckland
Edwardes Street Auckland

10 years
5 yrs

House of Mr Davidson Barracks Auckland

10 May 1865

Rev Jas Hill

No	2292
Date of Notice	10 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Lyons	Margaret French
BDM Match (84%)	Robt John Lyons	Margaret Spence
	💍 1865/4985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Queen Street Auckland	Edwardes Street Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	5 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Mr Davidson Barracks Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev Jas Hill

2293

11 May 1865

William Willmott
Margaret Eliza Johnston

William Wilmott Wilthew
Margaret Eliza Johnson
💍 1865/4784

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

24
22

Seafield Street Auckland
Seafield Street Auckland

2 weeks
18 mths

House of Thomas Johnston Seafield Street Freemans Bay

11 May 1865

Rev Thos Hamer

No	2293
Date of Notice	11 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Willmott	Margaret Eliza Johnston
BDM Match (78%)	William Wilmott Wilthew	Margaret Eliza Johnson
	💍 1865/4784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Seafield Street Auckland	Seafield Street Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	18 mths
Marriage Place	House of Thomas Johnston Seafield Street Freemans Bay
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev Thos Hamer

2294

11 May 1865

James Forsman
Margaret Roycroft

James Forssman
Margaret Rycroft
💍 1865/5576

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25
23

Newton
Mrs Sales Boarding House Newton

3 1/2 years
from birth

House of Mr Rusden Newton

11 May 1865

Rev A Macdonald

No	2294
Date of Notice	11 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Forsman	Margaret Roycroft
BDM Match (94%)	James Forssman	Margaret Rycroft
	💍 1865/5576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Newton	Mrs Sales Boarding House Newton
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	from birth
Marriage Place	House of Mr Rusden Newton
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev A Macdonald

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 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).