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 238

District of Wellington Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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

September 4th 1867

Archibald Ingram
Elizabeth Sophia Harper

Archibald Ingram
Elizabeth Sophia Harper
💍 1867/5998

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
20

Rangitikei at present Wellington
Wellington

nearly 2 weeks
10 years

St. Paul's Church Thorndon

562

George Frederick Harper, Father

September 4th 1867

The Rev. P.A. Trewavell M.A. and others

No	93
Date of Notice	September 4th 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Ingram	Elizabeth Sophia Harper
	💍 1867/5998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Rangitikei at present Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	nearly 2 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Thorndon
Folio	562
Consent	George Frederick Harper, Father
Date of Certificate	September 4th 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. P.A. Trewavell M.A. and others

September 11th 1867

John Horsbrugh Ross
Matilda Cliland

John Horsburgh Ross
Matilda Cleland
💍 1867/5824

Bachelor
Spinster

Policeman

30
21

Wellington
Hutt

2 1/2 years
many years

Residence of Mr. Churgh Cleland Hutt

561

September 11th 1867

The Rev. John Hall and others

No	94
Date of Notice	September 11th 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Horsbrugh Ross	Matilda Cliland
BDM Match (91%)	John Horsburgh Ross	Matilda Cleland
	💍 1867/5824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Policeman
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hutt
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Churgh Cleland Hutt
Folio	561
Consent
Date of Certificate	September 11th 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Hall and others

September 16th 1867

William Henry Tobin
Catherine McCafferty

William Henry Robin
Catherine McCafferty
💍 1867/6100

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

25
18

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
many years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Thorndon

577

Patrick McCafferty, Father

September 16th 1867

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Viard, Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington and others

No	95
Date of Notice	September 16th 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Tobin	Catherine McCafferty
BDM Match (97%)	William Henry Robin	Catherine McCafferty
	💍 1867/6100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	many years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Thorndon
Folio	577
Consent	Patrick McCafferty, Father
Date of Certificate	September 16th 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rt. Rev. Dr. Viard, Roman Catholic Bishop of Wellington and others

21 September 1867

Edward Gell
Sophia Sarah Drakeford

Edward Gell
Sophia Sarah Drakeford
💍 1867/5875

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
27

Wellington
Wellington

23 years
about 3 years

Residence of Miss E Willend Lambton Quay

520

21 September 1867

The Rev. William Kirk and others

No	96
Date of Notice	21 September 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Gell	Sophia Sarah Drakeford
	💍 1867/5875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 years	about 3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss E Willend Lambton Quay
Folio	520
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. William Kirk and others

September 23rd 1867

Jessey Mexted
Nancy Thompson

Jessey Mexted
Nancy Thompson
💍 1867/6154

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

21
19

Porirua Road
Porirua Road

many years
about 14 years

Residence of the Rev. J. Waters Sydney Street

611

Eliza Ford, Mother

September 23rd 1867

The Rev. J. Waters and others

No	97
Date of Notice	September 23rd 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jessey Mexted	Nancy Thompson
	💍 1867/6154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Porirua Road	Porirua Road
Length of Residence	many years	about 14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. J. Waters Sydney Street
Folio	611
Consent	Eliza Ford, Mother
Date of Certificate	September 23rd 1867
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. Waters and others

September 24th 1867

Lowther Broad
Isabella Mary Bunny

Louther Broad
Isabella Mary Bunny
💍 1867/6103

Bachelor
Spinster

Resident Magistrate
none

27
18

At present Wellington late Arrowtown Otago
Wellington

1 month 4 years
13 years

St. Mary's Cathedral

598

Henry Bunny, Father

September 24th 1867

The Right Rev. Dr. Viard and others

No	98
Date of Notice	September 24th 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lowther Broad	Isabella Mary Bunny
BDM Match (96%)	Louther Broad	Isabella Mary Bunny
	💍 1867/6103
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Resident Magistrate	none
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	At present Wellington late Arrowtown Otago	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month 4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral
Folio	598
Consent	Henry Bunny, Father
Date of Certificate	September 24th 1867
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Dr. Viard 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).