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 246

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

9 April 1868

Henry John Barratt
Maria Swann

Henry John Barratt
Maria Swann
💍 1868/7298

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24 years
22 years

Wellington
Wellington

3 Weeks
3 Weeks

St Peters Church Willis Street

919

11 April 1868

Rev. Arthur Stock

No	53
Date of Notice	9 April 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Barratt	Maria Swann
	💍 1868/7298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 Weeks	3 Weeks
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Willis Street
Folio	919
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Stock

14 April 1868

William Avenell
Martha Roe

William Avenell
Martha Roe
💍 1868/7175

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

26 years
21 years

Wellington
Do

5 years
4/2 months

St. Pauls Church

818

11 May 1868

Rev. P.H. Maxwell

No	54
Date of Notice	14 April 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Avenell	Martha Roe
	💍 1868/7175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	5 years	4/2 months
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church
Folio	818
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.H. Maxwell

17 April 1868

William Cameron
Mary Jenkins

William Cameron
Mary Jenkins
💍 1868/7379

James Hanlon
Mary Jenkins
💍 1868/8633

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom

28 years
21 years

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
about 3 months

Residence of the Rev. Robert Ward

941

17 April 1868

Rev. Robert Ward

No	55
Date of Notice	17 April 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cameron	Mary Jenkins
	💍 1868/7379
BDM Match (63%)	James Hanlon	Mary Jenkins
	💍 1868/8633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	about 3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. Robert Ward
Folio	941
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward

17 April 1868

George Monk
Ruth Jane Robinson

George Monk
Ruth Jane Robinson
💍 1868/7055

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25 years
18 years

North Makara
North Makara

1 year
about 11 years

Church of England Makara

837

Richard Robinson, father

17 April 1868

Rev. Thomas Fancourt

No	56
Date of Notice	17 April 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Monk	Ruth Jane Robinson
	💍 1868/7055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	North Makara	North Makara
Length of Residence	1 year	about 11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Makara
Folio	837
Consent	Richard Robinson, father
Date of Certificate	17 April 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Fancourt

18 April 1868

Alexander Milne
Jessie Ann Campbell

Alexander Milne
Jessie Ann Campbell
💍 1868/7091

Widower
Widow

Engineer

34 years
27 years

Wellington
Do

2 years
2 weeks

Residence of the Rev. John Hall

864

18 April 1868

Rev. John Hall

No	57
Date of Notice	18 April 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Milne	Jessie Ann Campbell
	💍 1868/7091
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	34 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. John Hall
Folio	864
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hall

20 April 1868

Archibald Keith
Isabella Blair

Archibald Keith
Isabella Blair
💍 1868/9808

Bachelor
Widow

Engineer

36 years
28 years

Wellington
Do

3 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Chapel

20 April 1868

Rev. C. Pertius

No	58
Date of Notice	20 April 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Keith	Isabella Blair
	💍 1868/9808
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engineer
Age	36 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Pertius

21 April 1868

Charles Tringham
Margaret Hunter Bennett

Charles Tringham
Margaret Hunter Bennett
💍 1868/7136

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

27 years
23 years

Wellington
Do

3 years
about 1 year

Residence of J.B. Bennett Esq

864

21 April 1868

Rev. Wm. Kirton

No	59
Date of Notice	21 April 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Tringham	Margaret Hunter Bennett
	💍 1868/7136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	27 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	about 1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of J.B. Bennett Esq
Folio	864
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Kirton

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).