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 221

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

28 March 1866

Alfred Curtis
Frances Wilton

Alfred Curtis
Frances Wilton
💍 1866/6394

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
about 9 years

St. Paul's Church Thorndon

66/689

Wm. Wilton, Father

23 April 1866

The Rev. P. H. Maxwell, M.A., and others.

No	32
Date of Notice	28 March 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Curtis	Frances Wilton
	💍 1866/6394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	about 9 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio	66/689
Consent	Wm. Wilton, Father
Date of Certificate	23 April 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. P. H. Maxwell, M.A., and others.

28 March 1866

William White
Emily Zealand Curtis

William White
Emily Zealand Curtis
💍 1866/6400

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

21
20

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
20 years

St. Paul's Church Thorndon

66/691

George Curtis, Father

19 May 1866

The Rev. P. Hay Maxwell, M.A., and others.

No	33
Date of Notice	28 March 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William White	Emily Zealand Curtis
	💍 1866/6400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio	66/691
Consent	George Curtis, Father
Date of Certificate	19 May 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. P. Hay Maxwell, M.A., and others.

3 April 1866

Joseph Death
Catherine Lynch

Joseph Death
Catherine Lynch
💍 1866/6514

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
22

Hutt
Hutt

4 years
many years

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

66/730

3 April 1866

The Right Rev. Dr. Viard, and others.

No	36
Date of Notice	3 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Death	Catherine Lynch
	💍 1866/6514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	many years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel known as "St. Mary's." Thorndon
Folio	66/730
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1866
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Dr. Viard, and others.

5 April 1866

Henry Morison
Mary Ann Berry

Henry Morison
Mary Ann Berry
💍 1866/6622

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

30
31

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
many years

Registrar's Office Wellington

66/765

6 April 1866

The Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington, and others.

No	57
Date of Notice	5 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Morison	Mary Ann Berry
	💍 1866/6622
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	many years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	66/765
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1866
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington, and others.

9 April 1866

William Skey
Louisa Frances

William Skey
Louisa Francis
💍 1866/6469

Bachelor
Spinster

Analyst

31
35

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
several years

"St. Peter's" Church Te Aro.

66/714

9 April 1866

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

No	58
Date of Notice	9 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Skey	Louisa Frances
BDM Match (96%)	William Skey	Louisa Francis
	💍 1866/6469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Analyst
Age	31	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	several years
Marriage Place	"St. Peter's" Church Te Aro.
Folio	66/714
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1866
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Arthur Stock, B.A., and others.

9 April 1866

George Spackman
Junior
Martha Wagg

George Spackman
Martha Wagg
💍 1866/6625

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

22
18

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

22 years
about 9 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

66/766

Thomas Wagg, Father

9 April 1866

The Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington, and others.

No	59
Date of Notice	9 April 1866
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Spackman Junior	Martha Wagg
	💍 1866/6625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	22 years	about 9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	66/766
Consent	Thomas Wagg, Father
Date of Certificate	9 April 1866
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages for the District of Wellington, 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).