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 231

District of Wellington Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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

31 May 1867

Thomas Ward
Ann Welch

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
23

Wairarapa, at present Wellington
Wellington

10 days
2 months

Roman Catholic Chapel

509

31 May 1867

The Rev. John Ahern and others

No	56
Date of Notice	31 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ward	Ann Welch
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wairarapa, at present Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel
Folio	509
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Ahern and others

31 May 1867

George Bowles
Mary Ann McLaren

George Bowles
Mary Ann McLaren
💍 1867/5977

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
nearly 18 years

Porirua
Porirua

11 years
about 9 years

St. Paul's Church Thorndon

555

14 May 1867

The Rev. J.F. Herring and others

No	57
Date of Notice	31 May 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bowles	Mary Ann McLaren
	💍 1867/5977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	nearly 18 years
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	11 years	about 9 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio	555
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J.F. Herring and others

1 June 1867

John Cain
Eliza Baxter

John Cain
Eliza Baxter
💍 1867/5980

Widower
Spinster

Labourer

44
29

Hutt
Wellington

3 months
2 months

St. Paul's Church Thorndon

556

17 June 1867

The Rev. T.H. Malivell W.A. and others

No	58
Date of Notice	1 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cain	Eliza Baxter
	💍 1867/5980
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	44	29
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio	556
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. T.H. Malivell W.A. and others

1 June 1867

John Crowther
Nancy Good

John Crowther
Nancy Wood
💍 1867/5839

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

about 35 years
about 28 years

River Hutt
River Hutt

about 9 months
5 years

St. James' Church Hutt

556

1 June 1867

The Rev. J.E. Herring and others

No	59
Date of Notice	1 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Crowther	Nancy Good
BDM Match (95%)	John Crowther	Nancy Wood
	💍 1867/5839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	about 35 years	about 28 years
Dwelling Place	River Hutt	River Hutt
Length of Residence	about 9 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St. James' Church Hutt
Folio	556
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J.E. Herring and others

12 June 1867

Daniel Pearce Drake
Sarah Remmant

Daniel Pearce Drake
Sarah Remnant
💍 1867/6142

Widower
Spinster

Cabinetmaker

26
16 years 3 months

Wellington
Wellington

about 2 years
many years

Residence of Mr Wm Jno Dark, Moore Street

570

Hannah Dark, mother

12 June 1867

The Rev. Charles Waters and others

No	60
Date of Notice	12 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Pearce Drake	Sarah Remmant
BDM Match (96%)	Daniel Pearce Drake	Sarah Remnant
	💍 1867/6142
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker
Age	26	16 years 3 months
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 2 years	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Wm Jno Dark, Moore Street
Folio	570
Consent	Hannah Dark, mother
Date of Certificate	12 June 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Charles Waters and others

14 June 1867

Walter John Staff
Annie Jane Roberts

Walter John Staff
Anne Jane Corbett
💍 1867/5869

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
nearly 20 years

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
about 2 years

Residence of Mr. Roberts Willis Street

578

14 June 1867

The Rev. William Kirk and others

No	61
Date of Notice	14 June 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Staff	Annie Jane Roberts
BDM Match (86%)	Walter John Staff	Anne Jane Corbett
	💍 1867/5869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	nearly 20 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	about 2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Roberts Willis Street
Folio	578
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Kirk 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).