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 191

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

8 June 1865

William Fitchett
Louisa Annie Hawkins

William Fitchett
Louisa Annie Hawkins
💍 1865/6167

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer

28
23

Ohiro
Wellington

about 16 years
many years

Residence of Mr. George Hawkins, Webb Street

65/701

7 July 1865

The Rev. James Stirling Muir, and others

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 16 years	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. George Hawkins, Webb Street
Folio	65/701
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James Stirling Muir, and others

12 June 1865

Henry Walker
Elizabeth Ellen Harris

Henry Walker
Elizabeth Ellen Harris
💍 1865/6248

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

This appeared in last Quarter's return

No	51
Date of Notice	12 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Walker	Elizabeth Ellen Harris
	💍 1865/6248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	This appeared in last Quarter's return
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

21 June 1865

George Mathew Snelson
Louisa Matilda Buck

George Mathew Snelson
Louisa Matilda Buck
💍 1865/6068

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

27 years
21 years & 5 months

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
many years

"St. Paul's" Church, Thorndon

65/662

4 July 1865

The Rev. Patrick Hay Maxwell, and others

No	52
Date of Notice	21 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mathew Snelson	Louisa Matilda Buck
	💍 1865/6068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	27 years	21 years & 5 months
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	many years
Marriage Place	"St. Paul's" Church, Thorndon
Folio	65/662
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Patrick Hay Maxwell, and others

27 June 1865

George Hobbs
Susannah Bell

George Hobbs
Susannah Bell
💍 1865/6218

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

This appeared in last Quarter's return

No	53
Date of Notice	27 June 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hobbs	Susannah Bell
	💍 1865/6218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	This appeared in last Quarter's return
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

14 July 1865

Andrew James Whyte
Mary Ann Taylor

Andrew James Whyte
Mary Ann Taylor
💍 1865/9643

Bachelor
Spinster

Bar-man

24 years
20 years & 2 mos

Hutt
Hutt

2 years
about 9 months

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street

65/756

James Taylor, Father

14 July 1865

The Rev. Charles Waters, and others

No	54
Date of Notice	14 July 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew James Whyte	Mary Ann Taylor
	💍 1865/9643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bar-man
Age	24 years	20 years & 2 mos
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	about 9 months
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street
Folio	65/756
Consent	James Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	14 July 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Charles Waters, and others

17 July 1865

Robert Cockburn
Jemima Griffin

Robert Cockburn
Jemima Griffin
💍 1865/6221

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
29

Wairarapa at present Wellington
Karori

4 days
about 8 mos

Residence of John Griffin Karori

65/721

17 July 1865

The Rev. John Moir, and others

No	55
Date of Notice	17 July 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cockburn	Jemima Griffin
	💍 1865/6221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Wairarapa at present Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	4 days	about 8 mos
Marriage Place	Residence of John Griffin Karori
Folio	65/721
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, and others

20 July 1865

Archibald Dudingstone Willis
Mary Dixon

Archibald Dudingstone Willis
Mary Dixon
💍 1865/6095

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

23
20

Wanganui at present Wellington
Wellington

3 days
many years

"St. Peter's" Church Willis Street

65/674

Joseph Dixon, Father

20 July 1865

The Rev. Arthur Stock, B.A., and others

No	56
Date of Notice	20 July 1865
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Dudingstone Willis	Mary Dixon
	💍 1865/6095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui at present Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	many years
Marriage Place	"St. Peter's" Church Willis Street
Folio	65/674
Consent	Joseph Dixon, Father
Date of Certificate	20 July 1865
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock, B.A., and others

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).