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 248

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

3 June 1869

Robert Hall
Sophia Osborne

Robert Hall
Sophia Osborne
💍 1869/5961

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

32
19

Pahantanui
Pahantanui

3 years
10 years

Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street

574

William Osborne, father

25 June 1869

Rev. John Moir

No	67
Date of Notice	3 June 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hall	Sophia Osborne
	💍 1869/5961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Pahantanui	Pahantanui
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street
Folio	574
Consent	William Osborne, father
Date of Certificate	25 June 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

4 June 1869

William Roberts
Agnes Gaffney

William Roberts
Agnes Gaffney
💍 1869/5853

Bachelor
Widow

Mariner

29
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
27 years

Wesleyan Chapel, Manners Street

536

19 June 1869

Rev. William [UNCLEAR]

No	68
Date of Notice	4 June 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Roberts	Agnes Gaffney
	💍 1869/5853
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mariner
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel, Manners Street
Folio	536
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. William [UNCLEAR]

10 June 1869

William George Trim
Martha Maria Robertson

William George Trim
Martha Maria Robertson
💍 1869/5811

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
10 years

Residence of Mr David Robertson, Sydney Street

522

David Robertson, father

10 June 1869

Rev. Robert [UNCLEAR]

No	69
Date of Notice	10 June 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Trim	Martha Maria Robertson
	💍 1869/5811
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr David Robertson, Sydney Street
Folio	522
Consent	David Robertson, father
Date of Certificate	10 June 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert [UNCLEAR]

15 June 1869

Houston Campbell
Eliza Dick

Houston Campbell
Eliza Dick
💍 1869/5997

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
23

Wainuiomata
Wainuiomata

3 years
many years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wellington

587

15 June 1869

Reg. of Marriages for the [UNCLEAR]

No	70
Date of Notice	15 June 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Houston Campbell	Eliza Dick
	💍 1869/5997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wainuiomata	Wainuiomata
Length of Residence	3 years	many years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wellington
Folio	587
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1869
Officiating Minister	Reg. of Marriages for the [UNCLEAR]

15 June 1869

James Moore
Ellen Mayow

James Moon
Ellen Mayow
💍 1869/5904

Bachelor
Spinster

Smith

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
1 month

Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street

555

29 June 1869

Rev. John Moir

No	71
Date of Notice	15 June 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Moore	Ellen Mayow
BDM Match (91%)	James Moon	Ellen Mayow
	💍 1869/5904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Smith
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street
Folio	555
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

15 June 1869

Isaac Christopher Ritchie
Isabella Gray

Isaac Christopher Ritchie
Isabella Gray
💍 1869/5931

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

35
28

Wellington
Tauta

3 days
many years

Residence of Mrs Isabella Gray, Tauta

564

30 June 1869

Rev. C.W. [UNCLEAR]

No	72
Date of Notice	15 June 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Christopher Ritchie	Isabella Gray
	💍 1869/5931
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Tauta
Length of Residence	3 days	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Isabella Gray, Tauta
Folio	564
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 June 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.W. [UNCLEAR]

19 June 1869

John Cavanagh
Ann Parker

John Cavanagh
Ann Parker
💍 1869/6030

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
23

Hutt
Hutt

2 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Manners Street

598

19 June 1869

Rev. J.B. Petit

No	73
Date of Notice	19 June 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cavanagh	Ann Parker
	💍 1869/6030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Manners Street
Folio	598
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.B. Petit

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).