Intentions to Marry, 1870

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840382, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 263

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1870 Registrar John Elisha Smith

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 March 1870

Charles Henry Hill
Alice Montgomery

Charles Henry Hill
Alice Montgomery
💍 1870/5796

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
18

Kaiwarra
Wellington

12 months
18 years

Residence of Mr Joseph Bowwater, Tory Street

Martha Watson, mother

5 April 1870

Rev. Jas. Paterson & others

No	25
Date of Notice	3 March 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Hill	Alice Montgomery
	💍 1870/5796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Kaiwarra	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Joseph Bowwater, Tory Street
Folio
Consent	Martha Watson, mother
Date of Certificate	5 April 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Paterson & others

29 March 1870

Henry Wilmshurst
Susan Fairbrass

Thomas Henry Wilmshurst
Susan Fairbrass
💍 1870/6063

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

20
18

Johnsonville
Johnsonville

20 years
18 years

Church of England, Johnsonville

John Wilmshurst, father; Ann Richmond, mother

13 April 1870

Rev. Thomas Fancourt & others

No	31
Date of Notice	29 March 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wilmshurst	Susan Fairbrass
BDM Match (85%)	Thomas Henry Wilmshurst	Susan Fairbrass
	💍 1870/6063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Johnsonville
Folio
Consent	John Wilmshurst, father; Ann Richmond, mother
Date of Certificate	13 April 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Fancourt & others

2 April 1870

Gavin Hamilton Blair
Mary Maria Davidson

Gavin Hamilton Blair
Mary Maria Davidson
💍 1870/5793

Widower
Widow

Mariner

36
38

Wanganui at present Wellington
Wanganui at present Wellington

3 days
3 days

Residence of the Rev. Jas Paterson, Wellington Terrace

2 April 1870

Rev. Jas Paterson & others

No	34
Date of Notice	2 April 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gavin Hamilton Blair	Mary Maria Davidson
	💍 1870/5793
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Mariner
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Wanganui at present Wellington	Wanganui at present Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. Jas Paterson, Wellington Terrace
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas Paterson & others

5 April 1870

Charles Sweadland Mainwaring
Harriette Carter

Charles Swealand Mainwaring
Harriette Carter
💍 1870/6069

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

29
32

Pahautanui
Pahautanui

18 months
about 7 years

The Church situate at the Ferry, Porirua

20 April 1870

Rev. Thos. Fancourt & others

No	35
Date of Notice	5 April 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Sweadland Mainwaring	Harriette Carter
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Swealand Mainwaring	Harriette Carter
	💍 1870/6069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Pahautanui	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	18 months	about 7 years
Marriage Place	The Church situate at the Ferry, Porirua
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Fancourt & others

7 April 1870

Thomas McDonnell
Henrietta Elise Lomax

Thomas McDonnell
Henrietta Elise Lomax
💍 1870/6042

Widower
Spinster

Lieut. Colonel

37
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
7 years

St Paul's Cathedral, Thorndon

Emily Whitbread Lomax, Mother

7 April 1870

Rev. W. H. Ewald M.A. & others

No	36
Date of Notice	7 April 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McDonnell	Henrietta Elise Lomax
	💍 1870/6042
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Lieut. Colonel
Age	37	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Cathedral, Thorndon
Folio
Consent	Emily Whitbread Lomax, Mother
Date of Certificate	7 April 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Ewald M.A. & others

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

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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 1908. 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).