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 189

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1865 Registrar John Elisha Smith

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

20 May 1865

John Lawson Waistcoat
Mary Roach

John Lawson Waistcoat
Mary Roach
💍 1865/6308

Widower
Widow

Blacksmith

55
about 34

Otaki
Otaki

20 years
many years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Otaki

65/752

20 May 1865

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

No	44
Date of Notice	20 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lawson Waistcoat	Mary Roach
	💍 1865/6308
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	55	about 34
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	20 years	many years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Otaki
Folio	65/752
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. B. Petit Jean, and others

26 May 1865

George Knight
Mary Dorcy

George Knight
Mary Darcy
💍 1865/4131

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
30

Wellington
Wellington

3 weeks
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Chapel, known as "St Marys", Manners Street

65/690

26 May 1865

The Rev. J. J P O'Reilly and others

No	45
Date of Notice	26 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Knight	Mary Dorcy
BDM Match (95%)	George Knight	Mary Darcy
	💍 1865/4131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, known as "St Marys", Manners Street
Folio	65/690
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. J P O'Reilly and others

29 May 1865

George Gooch
Caroline King

George Gooch
Caroline King
💍 1865/6281

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

21 years and 6 months
19 years

Hutt
Hutt

4 years
many years

St. James' Church, Hutt

65/743

William King, father

29 May 1865

The Rev. John Edward Herring, and others

No	46
Date of Notice	29 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gooch	Caroline King
	💍 1865/6281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	21 years and 6 months	19 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	many years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Hutt
Folio	65/743
Consent	William King, father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Edward Herring, and others

29 May 1865

John George Boulton
Caroline Louisa Knight

John George Boulton
Caroline Louisa Knight
💍 1865/6065

Bachelor
Spinster

Naval Officer

22
19

Melbourne, at present Wellington
Wellington

6 days
3 months

St. Paul's Church, Thorndon

65/661

Charles Knight, father

29 May 1865

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

No	47
Date of Notice	29 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Boulton	Caroline Louisa Knight
	💍 1865/6065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Naval Officer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Melbourne, at present Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Thorndon
Folio	65/661
Consent	Charles Knight, father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1865
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Charles John, Bishop of Wellington, and others

30 May 1865

Ivie Gibson
Ada Winton

Ivie Gibson
Adah Winton
💍 1865/6215

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

25
15

Wellington
Wellington

about 6 weeks
about 6 weeks

Private Residence of the Rev. John Moir Wellington

65/719

William Winton, father

30 May 1865

The Rev. John Moir, and others

No	48
Date of Notice	30 May 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivie Gibson	Ada Winton
BDM Match (95%)	Ivie Gibson	Adah Winton
	💍 1865/6215
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	25	15
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 6 weeks	about 6 weeks
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the Rev. John Moir Wellington
Folio	65/719
Consent	William Winton, father
Date of Certificate	30 May 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, and others

3 June 1865

Francis Malcon
Mary McComish

Francis Malcow
Mary McComish
💍 1865/6140

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Chapel, Manners Street

65/691

3 June 1865

The Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilly, and others

No	49
Date of Notice	3 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Malcon	Mary McComish
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Malcow	Mary McComish
	💍 1865/6140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Manners Street
Folio	65/691
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 June 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilly, and others

8 June 1865

William Fitchett
Louisa Annie Hawkins

William Fitchett
Louisa Annie Hawkins
💍 1865/6167

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer

28
23

Ohiro
Wellington

about 10 years
many years

Residence of George Hawkins, Webb Street

65/701

Certificate not yet issued

No	50
Date of Notice	8 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fitchett	Louisa Annie Hawkins
	💍 1865/6167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Ohiro	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 10 years	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Hawkins, Webb Street
Folio	65/701
Consent	Certificate not yet issued
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

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).