Intentions to Marry, 1866

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840378, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 216

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

28 January 1866

Morgan Stanislaus Grace
Agnes Mary Johnston

Morgan Stanislaus Grace
Agnes Mary Johnston
💍 1866/6502

Bachelor
Spinster

Doctor of Medicine

28 years
23 years

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
many years

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

726

23 January 1866

The Right Rev. Dr Ward, and others.

No	5
Date of Notice	28 January 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morgan Stanislaus Grace	Agnes Mary Johnston
	💍 1866/6502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Doctor of Medicine
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	many years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, known as "St Mary's", Thorndon
Folio	726
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1866
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Dr Ward, and others.

20 January 1866

John William Smallbone
Annie Smallbone

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

22 years
21 years & upwards

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
1 year

"St Paul's" Church, Thorndon.

685

29 January 1866

The Rev. P. H. Maxwell, Incumbent

No	6
Date of Notice	20 January 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Smallbone	Annie Smallbone
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	22 years	21 years & upwards
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	"St Paul's" Church, Thorndon.
Folio	685
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. P. H. Maxwell, Incumbent

20 January 1866

James Moore
Jane Philomone Mary Hilloday

James Moore
Jane Philomine Mary Halliday
💍 1866/6505

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer

26 years
19 years

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
about 16 years

Roman Catholic Church, known as "St Mary's"

727

Philip Joseph Ward, Guardian.

29 January 1866

The Right Rev. Bishop Viard and others

No	7
Date of Notice	20 January 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Moore	Jane Philomone Mary Hilloday
BDM Match (95%)	James Moore	Jane Philomine Mary Halliday
	💍 1866/6505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	about 16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, known as "St Mary's"
Folio	727
Consent	Philip Joseph Ward, Guardian.
Date of Certificate	29 January 1866
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Bishop Viard and others

2 February 1866

William McNamara
Elizabeth Waik

William McNamara
Elizabeth Waitt
💍 1866/6508

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

25 years
21 years & upwards

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
about 5 years

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

728

20 February 1866

The Right Rev. Dr Viard and others.

No	8
Date of Notice	2 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McNamara	Elizabeth Waik
BDM Match (93%)	William McNamara	Elizabeth Waitt
	💍 1866/6508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	25 years	21 years & upwards
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	about 5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, known as "St Mary's", Thorndon
Folio	728
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Dr Viard and others.

3 February 1866

Samuel James Trist
Ann Lamberg

Bachelor
Widow

Storekeeper

42 years
59 years

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
15 years

"St Peter's" Church, Willis Street.

19 February 1866

The Rev. Arthur Stock, and others.

No	9
Date of Notice	3 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel James Trist	Ann Lamberg
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	42 years	59 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	"St Peter's" Church, Willis Street.
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock, and others.

5 February 1866

James Henry Hutchens
Emma Rosetta Chisholm

James Henry Hutchens
Emma Rosetta Chisholm
💍 1866/6454

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach builder

30 years
Village

Wellington
Wellington

about 1 year
about 6 years.

"St Peter's" Church, Te Aro.

709

5 February 1866

The Rev. Arthur Stock, and others.

No	10
Date of Notice	5 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Hutchens	Emma Rosetta Chisholm
	💍 1866/6454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach builder
Age	30 years	Village
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 1 year	about 6 years.
Marriage Place	"St Peter's" Church, Te Aro.
Folio	709
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock, and others.

6 February 1866

Robert Neill
Elizabeth Grace

Robert Neill
Elizabeth Groves
💍 1866/6304

Widower
Widow

Farmer

45 years
34 years

Hutt
Hutt

18 years
9 years

Scotch Church, Willis Street

658

6 February 1866

The Rev. John Moir, and others.

No	11
Date of Notice	6 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Neill	Elizabeth Grace
BDM Match (91%)	Robert Neill	Elizabeth Groves
	💍 1866/6304
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	45 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	18 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Scotch Church, Willis Street
Folio	658
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, 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 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).