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 181

District of Wellington Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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

3 January 1865

Isaac Laurie
Margaret Smith

Isaac Laurie
Margaret Smith
💍 1865/6119

Bachelor
Widow

Mariner

53
47

Wellington
Wellington

10 days
24 years

Roman Catholic Chapel known as "St Mary's", Thorndon

682

3 January 1865

The Rev. J.B.P. Jean, and others

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Laurie	Margaret Smith
	💍 1865/6119
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mariner
Age	53	47
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel known as "St Mary's", Thorndon
Folio	682
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J.B.P. Jean, and others

9 January 1865

Wallace Lawrence
Caroline Meyrick

William Laurence
Caroline Meyrick
💍 1865/6197

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
26

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
10 months

Private Residence of Wallace Lawrence, Majoribanks Street

713

24 January 1865

The Rev. John Moir, and others

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Lawrence	Caroline Meyrick
BDM Match (84%)	William Laurence	Caroline Meyrick
	💍 1865/6197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Wallace Lawrence, Majoribanks Street
Folio	713
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, and others

16 January 1865

James Brainger
Annie Fisher

James Brounger
Annie Fisher
💍 1865/6200

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
18

Karori
Karori

many years
5 years

Residence of Mr. Parnell, Karori

714

David Fisher, Father

31 January 1865

The Rev. John Moir, and others

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brainger	Annie Fisher
BDM Match (93%)	James Brounger	Annie Fisher
	💍 1865/6200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	many years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Parnell, Karori
Folio	714
Consent	David Fisher, Father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, and others

24 January 1865

Henry Rudman
Annie Robertson

Henry Rudman
Annie Robertson
💍 1865/6242

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

18 years
8 years

Residence of David Robertson, Public Cemetery

729

David Robertson, Father

24 January 1865

The Rev. Isaac Harding, and others

No	4
Date of Notice	24 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Rudman	Annie Robertson
	💍 1865/6242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Robertson, Public Cemetery
Folio	729
Consent	David Robertson, Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Isaac Harding, and others

26 January 1865

Alfred Hill Hickson
Charlotte Maria Dorset

Alfred Hill Hickson
Charlotte Maria Dorset
💍 1865/6050

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

About 26 years
About 20 years

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
18 years

St Paul's Church, Thorndon

656

William Dorset, Father

26 January 1865

The Right Rev. the Bishop of Wellington, and others

No	5
Date of Notice	26 January 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hill Hickson	Charlotte Maria Dorset
	💍 1865/6050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	About 26 years	About 20 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Thorndon
Folio	656
Consent	William Dorset, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1865
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. the Bishop of Wellington, and others

4 February 1865

George Jones
Sarah Watson

George Jones
Sarah Watson
💍 1865/6053

Bachelor
Widow

Merchant

24
29

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

St. Paul's Church, Thorndon

659

4 February 1865

The Right Rev. Charles John, Bishop of Wellington, and others

No	6
Date of Notice	4 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Jones	Sarah Watson
	💍 1865/6053
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Merchant
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Thorndon
Folio	659
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1865
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Charles John, Bishop of Wellington, and others

6 February 1865

Edward Abbott
Martha Barb

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
17

The Hutt
The Hutt

3 years
17 years

Residence of James Barb, Lower Hutt

James Barb, Father

Certificate not yet issued

No	7
Date of Notice	6 February 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Abbott	Martha Barb
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	The Hutt	The Hutt
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Barb, Lower Hutt
Folio
Consent	James Barb, Father
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Certificate not yet issued

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).