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 072

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

2304

19 May 1865

William Edwards
Mary Trevarrow

William Delamore
Mary Trevannion
💍 1865/4715

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
18

Onehunga
Onehunga

2 weeks
2 weeks

St Peters Church Onehunga

Ann Pickett, mother

2 June 1865

Rev. A.G. Purchas

No	2304
Date of Notice	19 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edwards	Mary Trevarrow
BDM Match (65%)	William Delamore	Mary Trevannion
	💍 1865/4715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Onehunga
Folio
Consent	Ann Pickett, mother
Date of Certificate	2 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. A.G. Purchas

2308

20 May 1865

Robert Darrah
Elizabeth Ennis

Robert Darrah
Elizabeth Ennis
💍 1865/5579

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright
Servant

28
22

Auckland
West Queen Street Auckland

2 years
4

The Albion Hotel West Queen Street Auckland

20 May 1865

Rev. A Macdonald

No	2308
Date of Notice	20 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Darrah	Elizabeth Ennis
	💍 1865/5579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright	Servant
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	West Queen Street Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	4
Marriage Place	The Albion Hotel West Queen Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. A Macdonald

2309

20 May 1865

Alexander Kenzie
Christina Muirhead

Alexander McKenzie
Christina Muirhead
💍 1865/4664

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
22

Rangitoto
Freemans Bay

2 months
4

Office of Registrar of marriages Auckland

20 May 1865

Registrar

No	2309
Date of Notice	20 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Kenzie	Christina Muirhead
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander McKenzie	Christina Muirhead
	💍 1865/4664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Rangitoto	Freemans Bay
Length of Residence	2 months	4
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of marriages Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Registrar

2310

20 May 1865

David Kelly
Jane Hughes
formerly Graham

David Kelly
Jane Hughes
💍 1865/5174

Bachelor
Widow

Sawyer

43
36

Waintakerei near Auckland
Waintakerei

20 May 1865

Very Rev Jas McDonald

No	2310
Date of Notice	20 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Kelly	Jane Hughes formerly Graham
BDM Match (70%)	David Kelly	Jane Hughes
	💍 1865/5174
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawyer
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Waintakerei near Auckland	Waintakerei
Length of Residence	20
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Very Rev Jas McDonald

2311

22 May 1865

Edward Skellow
Margaret Gamon

Edward Shelton
Margaret Hamon
💍 1865/4790

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Housekeeper

26
19

Drake Street Auckland
Symonds Street Auckland

5 years
2 years

Wesleyan Chapel Hobson Street Auckland

9 June 1865

Rev Thomas Buddle

No	2311
Date of Notice	22 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Skellow	Margaret Gamon
BDM Match (86%)	Edward Shelton	Margaret Hamon
	💍 1865/4790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Housekeeper
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Drake Street Auckland	Symonds Street Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel Hobson Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Buddle

2312

22 May 1865

William Knight
Ellen Henderson

William Knight
Ellen Henderson
💍 1865/4583

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

28
23

Queen Street Auckland
Chapel Street Auckland

10 months
3 years

St Matthews Church Auckland

22 May 1865

Rev. En. Bree

No	2312
Date of Notice	22 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Knight	Ellen Henderson
	💍 1865/4583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Queen Street Auckland	Chapel Street Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. En. 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 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).