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 244

District of Wellington Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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

2 April 1869

Hugh Blair
Sophia Smith Fox

Hugh Blair
Sophia Smith Fox
💍 1869/5835

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank

27
20

Wellington
Wellington

nearly 5 years
14 years

Residence of Mr. John Brown, Molesworth Street

530

Elizabeth Brown, mother

21 April 1869

Rev. William

No	39
Date of Notice	2 April 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Blair	Sophia Smith Fox
	💍 1869/5835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	nearly 5 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Brown, Molesworth Street
Folio	530
Consent	Elizabeth Brown, mother
Date of Certificate	21 April 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. William

5 April 1869

Alfred Tyer
Hannah Bould

Alfred Tyer
Hannah Bould
💍 1869/5946

Bachelor
Spinster

Dealer in tallow

28
20

Ngauranga
Ngauranga

10 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. Robert Bould, Johnsonville

569

Robert Bould, father

6 April 1869

The Rev. John Mo[illegible]

No	40
Date of Notice	5 April 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Tyer	Hannah Bould
	💍 1869/5946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dealer in tallow
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Ngauranga	Ngauranga
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Robert Bould, Johnsonville
Folio	569
Consent	Robert Bould, father
Date of Certificate	6 April 1869
Officiating Minister	The Rev. John Mo[illegible]

7 April 1869

Charles Palmer
Clara Lewis

Charles Palmer
Clara Lewis
💍 1869/5823

Widower
Spinster

Contractor

35
34

Wellington
Hutt

12 mos
3 years

Wesleyan Church, Manners Strut.

526

7 April 1869

Rev. W. Kirk

No	41
Date of Notice	7 April 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Palmer	Clara Lewis
	💍 1869/5823
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hutt
Length of Residence	12 mos	3 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Manners Strut.
Folio	526
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Kirk

10 April 1869

Cecil Augustin Victor Hotizge de Bortando
Elizabeth Mantel

Cecil Augustus Victor Holizzi De Cortando
Elizabeth Mantel
💍 1869/5916

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

26
19

Porirua
Wellington

Several years
12 mos

Residence of Rev. W. M. Fell, Webb Street

539

10 April 1869

Rev. W. M. Fell

No	42
Date of Notice	10 April 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Augustin Victor Hotizge de Bortando	Elizabeth Mantel
BDM Match (91%)	Cecil Augustus Victor Holizzi De Cortando	Elizabeth Mantel
	💍 1869/5916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Porirua	Wellington
Length of Residence	Several years	12 mos
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. M. Fell, Webb Street
Folio	539
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Fell

10 April 1869

Malcolm McNicol
Sarah Tyler

Malcolm McNie
Sarah Tyler
💍 1869/5793

Bachelor
Spinster

Barber

33
27

Pahautanui
Wellington

about 17 years
2 mos

Residence of Mr. Messina, Ghuznee Street

576

10 April 1869

Rev. Robert Ward

No	43
Date of Notice	10 April 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm McNicol	Sarah Tyler
BDM Match (90%)	Malcolm McNie	Sarah Tyler
	💍 1869/5793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barber
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 17 years	2 mos
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Messina, Ghuznee Street
Folio	576
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward

13 April 1869

John Lockary
Prudence Short

John Dockary
Prudence Short
💍 1869/5799

Bachelor
Spinster

Brickmaker

26
19

Wellington
Wellington

26 years
19 years

Residence of Mr. James Short, Ohiro

578

James Short, father

28 April 1869

Rev. Robert Ward

No	44
Date of Notice	13 April 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lockary	Prudence Short
BDM Match (96%)	John Dockary	Prudence Short
	💍 1869/5799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brickmaker
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	26 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James Short, Ohiro
Folio	578
Consent	James Short, father
Date of Certificate	28 April 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward

14 April 1869

James Kilmister
Elizabeth Judd

James Kilmister
Elizabeth Judd
💍 1869/5802

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
18

Karori
Hutt

23 years
18 years

Private residence of Mr. William Judd, Taita Valley, Hutt.

379

William Judd, father

30 April 1869

Rev. Robert Ward

No	45
Date of Notice	14 April 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Kilmister	Elizabeth Judd
	💍 1869/5802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Karori	Hutt
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. William Judd, Taita Valley, Hutt.
Folio	379
Consent	William Judd, father
Date of Certificate	30 April 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward

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).