Intentions to Marry, 1867

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840379, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 230

District of Wellington Quarter ending Apr - Jun 1867

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

11 May 1867

David Thomas
Ellen Lowe

David Thomas
Ellen Lowe
💍 1867/5935

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

32
24

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
about 11 months

Residence of the Rev. J. S. Muir, Abel Smith Street

67/540

11 May 1867

The Rev. J. S. Muir and others

No	50
Date of Notice	11 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Thomas	Ellen Lowe
	💍 1867/5935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	about 11 months
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. J. S. Muir, Abel Smith Street
Folio	67/540
Consent	.
Date of Certificate	11 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. S. Muir and others

11 May 1867

Alfred Augustus Browne
Ellen Osmond

Alfred Augustus Browne
Ellen Osmond
💍 1867/5974

Bachelor
Spinster

Supt. Purser in P.N.Z. & A.R.M. Coy.

37
27

Wellington
Wellington

11 months
2 weeks

St. Paul's Cathedral Thorndon

67/554

11 May 1867

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

No	51
Date of Notice	11 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Augustus Browne	Ellen Osmond
	💍 1867/5974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Supt. Purser in P.N.Z. & A.R.M. Coy.
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Cathedral Thorndon
Folio	67/554
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. P. H. Maxwell M. A. and others

16 May 1867

Frederick Meyrick
Mary Ann Perrin

Frederick Meguik
Mary Ann Perrin
💍 1867/5911

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
20

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
18 years

Free Church of Scotland Willis Street

67/532

Mary Ann Oakley, mother

16 May 1867

The Rev. John Moir and others

No	52
Date of Notice	16 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Meyrick	Mary Ann Perrin
BDM Match (91%)	Frederick Meguik	Mary Ann Perrin
	💍 1867/5911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Free Church of Scotland Willis Street
Folio	67/532
Consent	Mary Ann Oakley, mother
Date of Certificate	16 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Moir and others

18 May 1867

Henry Smith
Susannah Smart

Henry Smith
Susannah Smart
💍 1867/6139

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

43
about 43 years

Wellington
Wellington

about 10 years
near 3 years

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Hutt

67/609

18 May 1867

The Rev. C. Waters and others

No	53
Date of Notice	18 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Smith	Susannah Smart
	💍 1867/6139
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	43	about 43 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 10 years	near 3 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Hutt
Folio	67/609
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. C. Waters and others

23 May 1867

John Charles Cannon
Mary Ann McDonough

John Charles Cannon
Mary Anne McDonnogh
💍 1867/5845

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Clerk

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 month
12 months

Roman Catholic Chapel, Manner Street

67/508

23 May 1867

The Rev. John Ahern and others

No	54
Date of Notice	23 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Cannon	Mary Ann McDonough
BDM Match (92%)	John Charles Cannon	Mary Anne McDonnogh
	💍 1867/5845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Clerk
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 month	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Manner Street
Folio	67/508
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Ahern and others

25 May 1867

James Munro
Jane Bragge

James Munroe
Jane Bragg
💍 1867/5938

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

42
36

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
2 years

Residence of Mr. William Bragg, Willis Street

67/541

25 May 1867

The Rev. James Stirling Mu[rest cut off] and others

No	55
Date of Notice	25 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Munro	Jane Bragge
BDM Match (91%)	James Munroe	Jane Bragg
	💍 1867/5938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. William Bragg, Willis Street
Folio	67/541
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James Stirling Mu[rest cut off] 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).