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 260

District of Wellington Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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

119

21 October 1869

George King
Mary Coughlin

George King
Mary Coghlin
💍 1869/5772

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

33
23

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
16 months

St. Peter's Church, Te Aro

508

21 October 1869

Rev. Arthur Stock

No	119
Date of Notice	21 October 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George King	Mary Coughlin
BDM Match (96%)	George King	Mary Coghlin
	💍 1869/5772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	16 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Te Aro
Folio	508
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Stock

120

29 October 1869

John William Bryant
Emma Eagle

John William Bryant
Emma Eagle
💍 1869/5922

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
18

Ohariu
Karori

3 years
4 years

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

561

Robert Eagle, Father

13 November 1869

Rev. W. M. Fell

No	120
Date of Notice	29 October 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Bryant	Emma Eagle
	💍 1869/5922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Ohariu	Karori
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. W.M. Fell, Webb Street
Folio	561
Consent	Robert Eagle, Father
Date of Certificate	13 November 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Fell

121

29 October 1869

Alfred Booth
Mary Ann Bryant

Alfred Booth
Mary Ann Bryant
💍 1869/5925

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
20

Ohariu
Tawa Valley

6 years
8 years

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

562

James Bryant, Father

13 November 1869

Rev. W. M. Fell

No	121
Date of Notice	29 October 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Booth	Mary Ann Bryant
	💍 1869/5925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ohariu	Tawa Valley
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. W. M. Fell, Webb Street
Folio	562
Consent	James Bryant, Father
Date of Certificate	13 November 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. M. Fell

122

6 November 1869

Maurice Mulcahy
Jane Donovan

Maurice Mulcahy
Jane Donovan
💍 1869/6039

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer of Cattle Station

26
24

Wellington
Wellington

8 days
12 months

St. Mary's Cathedral, Thorndon

601

6 November 1869

Rev. J. B. Petit

No	122
Date of Notice	6 November 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Mulcahy	Jane Donovan
	💍 1869/6039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer of Cattle Station
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 days	12 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Cathedral, Thorndon
Folio	601
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Petit

123

10 November 1869

Theophilus Easton
Rebecca Elizabeth Coley

Theophilus Easton
Rebecca Elizabeth Coly
💍 1869/5988

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
18

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 years

St. Paul's Cathedral, Thorndon

584

James Coley, Father

10 November 1869

Rev. W. H. Buale

No	123
Date of Notice	10 November 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theophilus Easton	Rebecca Elizabeth Coley
BDM Match (98%)	Theophilus Easton	Rebecca Elizabeth Coly
	💍 1869/5988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Cathedral, Thorndon
Folio	584
Consent	James Coley, Father
Date of Certificate	10 November 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Buale

124

15 November 1869

Edward Horatio de Courcy Martelli
Henrietta Priscilla Holland

Edward Horatio De Courcy Martelli
Henrietta Priscilla Holland
💍 1869/4041

Bachelor
Widow

Commission Agent

28
26

Wellington
Te Aro

3 days
4 weeks

St. Peter's Church, Te Aro

509

15 November 1869

Rev. Arthur Stock

No	124
Date of Notice	15 November 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Horatio de Courcy Martelli	Henrietta Priscilla Holland
BDM Match (99%)	Edward Horatio De Courcy Martelli	Henrietta Priscilla Holland
	💍 1869/4041
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Te Aro
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Te Aro
Folio	509
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Stock

125

19 November 1869

Henry Gould
Sarah Amram

Henry Gould
Sarah Anereau
💍 1869/3995

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

27
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street

578

19 November 1869

Rev. John Moir

No	125
Date of Notice	19 November 1869
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gould	Sarah Amram
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Gould	Sarah Anereau
	💍 1869/3995
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street
Folio	578
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1869
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

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).