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 075

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

2325

1 June 1865

William Riley
Charlotte Lodge

William Riley
Charlotte Lodge
💍 1865/7367

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

40
39

Albert Street Auckland
do

20 years
12 "

St Matthews Church Auckland

1 June 1865

Rev. E. N. Bree

No	2325
Date of Notice	1 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Riley	Charlotte Lodge
	💍 1865/7367
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Albert Street Auckland	do
Length of Residence	20 years	12 "
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. N. Bree

2326

1 June 1865

Richard Webster
Mary Ann Mosley
formerly Wilson

Richard Webster
Mary Ann Morley
💍 1865/4793

Bachelor
Widow

Wood Turner

23
25

Edwardes Street Lodging house Auckland
do

3 years
2 "

Wesleyan Chapel Hobson Street Auckland

15 June 1865

Rev. Thos. Bawden

No	2326
Date of Notice	1 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Webster	Mary Ann Mosley formerly Wilson
BDM Match (73%)	Richard Webster	Mary Ann Morley
	💍 1865/4793
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Wood Turner
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Edwardes Street Lodging house Auckland	do
Length of Residence	3 years	2 "
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel Hobson Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Bawden

2327

1 June 1865

Henry Clarke
Elizabeth Murray

Henry Clarke
Elizabeth Murray
💍 1865/4796

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier 11th Regt

24
25

Onehunga
Government House Auckland

3 mths
3 years

The House in Waits Top of Queen Street Auckland

21 June 1865

Rev. Thos Bawden

No	2327
Date of Notice	1 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Clarke	Elizabeth Murray
	💍 1865/4796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier 11th Regt
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Government House Auckland
Length of Residence	3 mths	3 years
Marriage Place	The House in Waits Top of Queen Street Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos Bawden

2328

2 June 1865

Robert McCullough
Mary Ann Wylie

Robert McCullough
Mary Ann Wylie
💍 1865/5543

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

30
25

Sahakua North of Howicks Line
Samaki

10 years
12 "

House of Yr Wylie Samaki

2 June 1865

Rev. John Mackie

No	2328
Date of Notice	2 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McCullough	Mary Ann Wylie
	💍 1865/5543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Sahakua North of Howicks Line	Samaki
Length of Residence	10 years	12 "
Marriage Place	House of Yr Wylie Samaki
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1865
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackie

2329

2 June 1865

William Charles Walker
Mary Pilkington

No corresponding marriage registration located

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
20

Hobson Street Auckland
Queen Street Auckland

4 years
from birth

House of W. B. Montgomery Lucas' Creek Auckland

No	2329
Date of Notice	2 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Walker	Mary Pilkington
	💍 No corresponding marriage registration located
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Hobson Street Auckland	Queen Street Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	from birth
Marriage Place	House of W. B. Montgomery Lucas' Creek Auckland
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

2330

3 June 1865

William Batterson
Mary Jn Sheason

William Patterson
Mary McPherson
💍 1865/5546

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

23
24

Flat Bush Manurewa
Flat Bush Otahuhu

5 years
4 "

Presbyterian Church Otahuhu

3 June 1865'

Rev. John Mackay

No	2330
Date of Notice	3 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Batterson	Mary Jn Sheason
BDM Match (80%)	William Patterson	Mary McPherson
	💍 1865/5546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Flat Bush Manurewa	Flat Bush Otahuhu
Length of Residence	5 years	4 "
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Otahuhu
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1865'
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Mackay

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).