Intentions to Marry, 1869

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840381, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 221

District of Wanganui Quarter ending Jan - Mar

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

15 January 1869

Geo. M. Donald
Sarah Hammond

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nogg's Employee

34
31

Wanganui
do

4 years
4 years

Residence

14 January 1869

Rev. David Nogg

No	1
Date of Notice	15 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo. M. Donald	Sarah Hammond
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nogg's Employee
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Nogg

15 January 1869

Owen Ryan
Joannah Scannell

Simon Ryan
Johanna Scannell
💍 1869/5655

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
25

do.
do.

7 years
6 Months

Catholic Chapel Wanganui

466

15 January 1869

Rev. John Kempilla

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Ryan	Joannah Scannell
BDM Match (74%)	Simon Ryan	Johanna Scannell
	💍 1869/5655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	do.	do.
Length of Residence	7 years	6 Months
Marriage Place	Catholic Chapel Wanganui
Folio	466
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Kempilla

16 January 1869

James Christie
Annie Nichols

James White
Annie Nicholson
💍 1869/5628

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
24

do.
do.

3 1/2 years
10 days

Residence of Ann Blyth, Mary Street, Wanganui

456

16 January 1869

Rev. David Hogs

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Christie	Annie Nichols
BDM Match (79%)	James White	Annie Nicholson
	💍 1869/5628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	do.	do.
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Ann Blyth, Mary Street, Wanganui
Folio	456
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Hogs

21 January 1869

Wirihana Paeroa
Wiki Kemp

Bachelor
Spinster

Aboriginal Native
Aboriginal Native

about 19
19

Rangitikei
Wanganui

about 19 years
19 years

Putiki Church, Wanganui

Kawana Otunia Father of Wirihana

21 January 1869

Rev. Basil Taylor

No	4
Date of Notice	21 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wirihana Paeroa	Wiki Kemp
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Aboriginal Native	Aboriginal Native
Age	about 19	19
Dwelling Place	Rangitikei	Wanganui
Length of Residence	about 19 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Putiki Church, Wanganui
Folio
Consent	Kawana Otunia Father of Wirihana
Date of Certificate	21 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Basil Taylor

27 January 1869

Robert Brown
Anne Corlie

Robert Brown
Ann Carlis
💍 1869/5658

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoe Maker

27
22

do
do.

12 months
18 months

Catholic Chapel, Operirihanna, Wanganui

447

27 January 1869

Rev. John Lampilla

No	5
Date of Notice	27 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown	Anne Corlie
BDM Match (86%)	Robert Brown	Ann Carlis
	💍 1869/5658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoe Maker
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	do	do.
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Chapel, Operirihanna, Wanganui
Folio	447
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Lampilla

27 January 1869

Ellis Gordon
Martha Stannard

Thomas Gordon
Martha Stannard
💍 1869/5607

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
24

do
do.

3 years
5 years

Residence of Rev. Stannard, Wanganui

449

27 January 1869

Rev. Geo. Stannard

No	6
Date of Notice	27 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellis Gordon	Martha Stannard
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Gordon	Martha Stannard
	💍 1869/5607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	do	do.
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. Stannard, Wanganui
Folio	449
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Stannard

15 February 1869

John Danguard
Helen Doughty

John Aagaard
Helen Doughty
💍 1869/5706

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
18

Rangitikei
do.

18 years
18 years

Private Residence of Mr. Doughty, Rangitikei

485

John Doughty, Father

15 February 1869

Rev. Humming

No	7
Date of Notice	15 February 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Danguard	Helen Doughty
BDM Match (88%)	John Aagaard	Helen Doughty
	💍 1869/5706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Rangitikei	do.
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mr. Doughty, Rangitikei
Folio	485
Consent	John Doughty, Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Humming

22 February 1869

Archibald Mitchell
Francis Price

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
19

Wanganui

24 years
12 years

Residence of Geo. Ross, Wapepe Valley, Wanganui

Thomas Price, Guardian

22 February 1869

Rev. Geo. Stannard

No	8
Date of Notice	22 February 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Mitchell	Francis Price
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wanganui
Length of Residence	24 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Geo. Ross, Wapepe Valley, Wanganui
Folio
Consent	Thomas Price, Guardian
Date of Certificate	22 February 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Stannard

4 March 1869

James Currie
Eliza Kerr Moore

James Currie
Eliza Kerr Moore
💍 1869/5586

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Keeper

30
29

3 years
4 years

Residence of James Wilson, Ridgway Street, Wanganui

442

4 March 1869

Rev. J. Wilson

No	9
Date of Notice	4 March 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Currie	Eliza Kerr Moore
	💍 1869/5586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Keeper
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Wilson, Ridgway Street, Wanganui
Folio	442
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wilson

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).