Intentions to Marry, 1868

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840380, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 243

District of Quarter ending

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

10 March 1868

Reginald Septimus Winter
Mary Ann Hogan

Reginal Septimus Winter
Mary Ann Hogan
💍 1868/7448

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook

22
18

Wellington
do

about 22 years
many years

Roman Catholic Cathedral Thorndon

971

David Hogan, Father

26 March 1868

The Right Rev. Dr. Viard and others

No	39
Date of Notice	10 March 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Septimus Winter	Mary Ann Hogan
BDM Match (98%)	Reginal Septimus Winter	Mary Ann Hogan
	💍 1868/7448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	about 22 years	many years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral Thorndon
Folio	971
Consent	David Hogan, Father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1868
Officiating Minister	The Right Rev. Dr. Viard and others

16 March 1868

William Johnston Morpeth
Helen Carroll

William Johnston Morpeth
Helen Carroll
💍 1868/7235

Bachelor
Spinster

Govt. Clerk

27
29

Picton at present Wellington
Wellington

1 week
many years

Residence of Mr Samuel Carroll Vivian Street

898

16 March 1868

The Rev. J.S. Muir and others

No	40
Date of Notice	16 March 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnston Morpeth	Helen Carroll
	💍 1868/7235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Govt. Clerk
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Picton at present Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Samuel Carroll Vivian Street
Folio	898
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1868
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J.S. Muir and others

17 March 1868

John Rice
Mary Davis

George Henry Wheeler
Mary Davis
💍 1868/5525

Bachelor
Widow

Stockman

24
26

Wellington
do

17 years
2 years

St. Peters Church Te Aro

918

17 March 1868

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

No	41
Date of Notice	17 March 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rice	Mary Davis
BDM Match (60%)	George Henry Wheeler	Mary Davis
	💍 1868/5525
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Stockman
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	17 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church Te Aro
Folio	918
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1868
Officiating Minister	The Rev. A. Stock B.A., and others

18 March 1868

John Campbell
Mary Ann McHardy

John Campbell
Margaret McKirdy
💍 1868/7238

John Loftus Campbell
Mary Ann Donnelly
💍 1868/5993

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
30

Napier, at present Wellington
do

3 days
1 month

Residence of Mr Charles McHardy Abel Smith St

899

18 March 1868

The Rev. James S. Muir and others

No	42
Date of Notice	18 March 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell	Mary Ann McHardy
BDM Match (78%)	John Campbell	Margaret McKirdy
	💍 1868/7238
BDM Match (62%)	John Loftus Campbell	Mary Ann Donnelly
	💍 1868/5993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Napier, at present Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Charles McHardy Abel Smith St
Folio	899
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1868
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James S. Muir and others

19 March 1868

Robert Charles Earle
Eliza Ellen Mason

Robert Charles Earle
Eliza Ellen Mason
💍 1868/7106

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

26
18

Wanganui at present Hutt
Hutt

5 days
many years

Church of England Taita

854

Thomas Mason, Father

19 March 1868

The Rev. J.R. Herring and others

No	43
Date of Notice	19 March 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Earle	Eliza Ellen Mason
	💍 1868/7106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Wanganui at present Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	5 days	many years
Marriage Place	Church of England Taita
Folio	854
Consent	Thomas Mason, Father
Date of Certificate	19 March 1868
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J.R. Herring 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).