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 238

District of Wellington 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

20 January 1869

Augustus Spencer Baston
Sarah Whebby

Augustus Spencer Easton
Sarah Whebley
💍 1869/5742

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

28
19

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 years
19 years

St. Peters Church

499

Edith Whebby, mother

21 January 1869

Rev. A. Stock B.A.

No	7
Date of Notice	20 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Spencer Baston	Sarah Whebby
BDM Match (90%)	Augustus Spencer Easton	Sarah Whebley
	💍 1869/5742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church
Folio	499
Consent	Edith Whebby, mother
Date of Certificate	21 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Stock B.A.

24 January 1869

John Andrew
Ellen Simmons

John Andrew
Ellen Simmons
💍 1869/5991

Bachelor
Widow

Cattle dealer

31
32

Wellington
Wellington

11 days
14 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wellington

585

27 January 1869

The Reg. of Marriages for the District

No	8
Date of Notice	24 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Andrew	Ellen Simmons
	💍 1869/5991
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cattle dealer
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wellington
Folio	585
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1869
Officiating Minister	The Reg. of Marriages for the District

27 January 1869

Arthur Fish
Isabella Emma Hyger

Arthur Firth
Isabella Emma Flyger
💍 1869/5745

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

27
21

Wellington
Wellington

about 4 years
nearly 21 years

St. Peters Church

498

Amy Ann Hyger, mother

27 January 1869

Rev. Arthur Stock

No	9
Date of Notice	27 January 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Fish	Isabella Emma Hyger
BDM Match (87%)	Arthur Firth	Isabella Emma Flyger
	💍 1869/5745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 4 years	nearly 21 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church
Folio	498
Consent	Amy Ann Hyger, mother
Date of Certificate	27 January 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Stock

2 February 1869

Thomas John Drake
Helen Russell Knox

Thomas John Drake
Helen Russell Knox
💍 1869/5898

Bachelor
Widow

Grazier

28
25

Porirua
Porirua

28 years
many years

St. Peters Church

553

9 March 1869

Rev. A. Stock B.A.

No	10
Date of Notice	2 February 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Drake	Helen Russell Knox
	💍 1869/5898
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Grazier
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Porirua
Length of Residence	28 years	many years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church
Folio	553
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Stock B.A.

10 February 1869

Samuel Cutten
Elizabeth Bowen

Samuel Cutten
Elizabeth Bowen
💍 1869/5994

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

about 6 mos
about 15 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wellington

586

10 February 1869

The Reg. of Marriages for the District

No	11
Date of Notice	10 February 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Cutten	Elizabeth Bowen
	💍 1869/5994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 6 mos	about 15 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wellington
Folio	586
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1869
Officiating Minister	The Reg. of Marriages for the District

12 February 1869

Morton Quin
Margaret Millard

Morton Quin
Margaret Kellard
💍 1869/5871

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
9 months

Residence of W. Michael Quin, Dixon Street

543

12 February 1869

The Rev. James Paterson

No	12
Date of Notice	12 February 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Morton Quin	Margaret Millard
BDM Match (94%)	Morton Quin	Margaret Kellard
	💍 1869/5871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Michael Quin, Dixon Street
Folio	543
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1869
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James Paterson

12 February 1869

Edwin Faulkner Norris
Mary Ann Green

Edwin Faulkner Norris
Mary Ann Green
💍 1869/6057

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

Wellington
Karori

4 years
6 mos

Karori Church

607

10 March 1869

Rev. Thomas Fanc

No	13
Date of Notice	12 February 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Faulkner Norris	Mary Ann Green
	💍 1869/6057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	4 years	6 mos
Marriage Place	Karori Church
Folio	607
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Fanc

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).