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 217

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1866 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

7 February 1866

Robert Hunter
Helen Paul

Robert Hunter
Helen Paul
💍 1866/6457

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

30
23

Wellington
Wellington

many years
many years

St. Peter's Church Te Aro

66/710

7 February 1866

The Rev. Arthur Stock B. A. and others

No	12
Date of Notice	7 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hunter	Helen Paul
	💍 1866/6457
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	many years	many years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Te Aro
Folio	66/710
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock B. A. and others

8 February 1866

Robert Goodin
Fanny Francis

Robert Goodin
Fanny Francis
💍 1866/6595

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24 years
21 years & 3 months

Hutt
Hutt

4 years
many years

Wesleyan Chapel Hutt

66/757

8 February 1866

The Rev. William J Watkin and others

No	13
Date of Notice	8 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Goodin	Fanny Francis
	💍 1866/6595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24 years	21 years & 3 months
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	many years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel Hutt
Folio	66/757
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William J Watkin and others

8 February 1866

Leonard Parrant
Sarah Jane Hollister

Leonard Parrant
Sarah Jane Hollister
💍 1866/6301

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

33
18

Kaiwarrawarra
Wellington

3 days
11 years

Residence of Thos. Y Edmonds Taranaki Place

66/657

Helen Edmonds, mother

8 February 1866

The Rev. John Moir, and others

No	14
Date of Notice	8 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Parrant	Sarah Jane Hollister
	💍 1866/6301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	33	18
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarrawarra	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thos. Y Edmonds Taranaki Place
Folio	66/657
Consent	Helen Edmonds, mother
Date of Certificate	8 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir, and others

9 February 1866

James Samuel Paull
Caroline Petford

James Samuel Paull
Caroline Petford
💍 1866/6460

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatbuilder

25
18

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
8 years

St. Peter's Church Te Aro

66/711

John Petford, father

26 February 1866

The Rev. Arthur Stock B. A. and others

No	15
Date of Notice	9 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Samuel Paull	Caroline Petford
	💍 1866/6460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatbuilder
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Te Aro
Folio	66/711
Consent	John Petford, father
Date of Certificate	26 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock B. A. and others

12 February 1866

Charles Henry Lowe
Anne Elizabeth Reading

Charles Henry Lowe
Anne Elizabeth Reading
💍 1866/6550

Bachelor
Spinster

Shopman

21 years & 9 mos
21 years and2 mos

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
about 12 years

Residence of Mr. William Lawes Sydney Street

66/742

12 February 1866

The Rev. Charles Waters, and others

No	16
Date of Notice	12 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Lowe	Anne Elizabeth Reading
	💍 1866/6550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shopman
Age	21 years & 9 mos	21 years and2 mos
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	about 12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. William Lawes Sydney Street
Folio	66/742
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Charles Waters, and others

15 February 1866

John Gaskin
Fanny Walker

John Giskin
Fanny Walker
💍 1866/6289

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
18

Makara
Makara

about 6 years
6 mos

St. Jame's Church Hutt

66/653

There is no person residing within the Colony authorized by law to give consent to their marriage

15 February 1866

The Rev. John Edward Herring, and others

No	17
Date of Notice	15 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gaskin	Fanny Walker
BDM Match (95%)	John Giskin	Fanny Walker
	💍 1866/6289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Makara	Makara
Length of Residence	about 6 years	6 mos
Marriage Place	St. Jame's Church Hutt
Folio	66/653
Consent	There is no person residing within the Colony authorized by law to give consent to their marriage
Date of Certificate	15 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Edward Herring, and others

15 February 1866

Samuel Fletcher
Harriett Lomas

Samuel Fletcher
Harriett Lomas
💍 1866/6553

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28 years
about 17 years

Napier at present Wellington
Wellington

about 1 week
9 years

Residence of Joseph Lomas, Golden Hill

66/743

Joseph Lomas, father

15 February 1866

The Rev. Charles Waters, and others

No	18
Date of Notice	15 February 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Fletcher	Harriett Lomas
	💍 1866/6553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28 years	about 17 years
Dwelling Place	Napier at present Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 1 week	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Joseph Lomas, Golden Hill
Folio	66/743
Consent	Joseph Lomas, father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Charles Waters, 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).