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 070

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

2295

13 May 1865

James Jones
Mary Parsell

James Jones
Mary Parcell
💍 1865/4150

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier C.S.C.
Servant

30
25

Auckland
Symonds Street Auckland

18 mths
3 days

House of Rev. P.H. Cornford Auckland

13 May 1865

Rev. P.H. Cornford

No	2295
Date of Notice	13 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jones	Mary Parsell
BDM Match (96%)	James Jones	Mary Parcell
	💍 1865/4150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier C.S.C.	Servant
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Symonds Street Auckland
Length of Residence	18 mths	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev. P.H. Cornford Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.H. Cornford

2296

13 May 1865

James Steel Sheriff
Matilda Wray

James Steele Sheriff
Matilda Wray
💍 1865/4988

Bachelor
Spinster

Trademan
Dressmaker

26
19

Napier Street Auckland
Napier Street Auckland

3 days
3 days

House of Rev. Jas Hill Auckland

13 May 1865

Rev. James Hill

No	2296
Date of Notice	13 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Steel Sheriff	Matilda Wray
BDM Match (98%)	James Steele Sheriff	Matilda Wray
	💍 1865/4988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trademan	Dressmaker
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Napier Street Auckland	Napier Street Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Jas Hill Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Hill

2297

13 May 1865

Robert McGlashen
Catherine Pennington

Robert McGlashan
Catherine Pennington
💍 1865/5297

Bachelor
Widow

Farm Servant

35
36

Howick
Howick

8 mths
8 years

The Catholic Church at Howick

13 May 1865

Rev. H J Fynes

No	2297
Date of Notice	13 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McGlashen	Catherine Pennington
BDM Match (97%)	Robert McGlashan	Catherine Pennington
	💍 1865/5297
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm Servant
Age	35	36
Dwelling Place	Howick	Howick
Length of Residence	8 mths	8 years
Marriage Place	The Catholic Church at Howick
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. H J Fynes

2298

15 May 1865

John Green
Elizabeth Stanton

John Green
Elizabeth Stanton
💍 1865/4577

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier A.H.C.

26
19

Auckland
Freemans Bay

13 mths
4 mths

St Matthews Church Auckland

15 May 1865

Rev. E.N. Bree

No	2298
Date of Notice	15 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Green	Elizabeth Stanton
	💍 1865/4577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier A.H.C.
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Freemans Bay
Length of Residence	13 mths	4 mths
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E.N. Bree

2299

15 May 1865

Denis Murphy
Isabella Devine

Denis Murphy
Isabella Divine
💍 1865/5384

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
24

Auckland
Wellington Street Auckland

1 year
7 mths

St John the Baptist the Catholic Church Parnell

15 May 1865

Rev. Ottavius Barsanti

No	2299
Date of Notice	15 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Murphy	Isabella Devine
BDM Match (97%)	Denis Murphy	Isabella Divine
	💍 1865/5384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wellington Street Auckland
Length of Residence	1 year	7 mths
Marriage Place	St John the Baptist the Catholic Church Parnell
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ottavius Barsanti

2300

15 May 1865

Thomas Kelly
Mary Clarke

Thomas Kelly
Mary Clarke
💍 1865/4910

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Sawyer
Servant

25
22

Titirangi
Titirangi

2 years
5 years

House of George Petchell Onehunga

15 May 1865

Rev. George Brown

No	2300
Date of Notice	15 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Kelly	Mary Clarke
	💍 1865/4910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Sawyer	Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Titirangi	Titirangi
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	House of George Petchell Onehunga
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Brown

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).