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 265

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1870

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

25 April 1870

Charles Edwin Fisher
Mary Ann Phelps

Charles Edwin Fisher
Mary Ann Phelps
💍 1870/5982

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter

28
21 1/12

Wellington
Wellington

about 5 years
many years

My private residence now in course of erection at Pipitea Point

11 May 1870

Rev. Robert Ward & others

No	44
Date of Notice	25 April 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Fisher	Mary Ann Phelps
	💍 1870/5982
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	21 1/12
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 5 years	many years
Marriage Place	My private residence now in course of erection at Pipitea Point
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward & others

26 April 1870

John James Gamble
Ellen McNamara

John James Gamble
Ellen McNamara
💍 1870/5865

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
20 years

St. Marys Cathedral, Thorndon

John McNamara, Father

26 April 1870

Rev. J.B. Petit Jean & others

No	45
Date of Notice	26 April 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Gamble	Ellen McNamara
	💍 1870/5865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Cathedral, Thorndon
Folio
Consent	John McNamara, Father
Date of Certificate	26 April 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.B. Petit Jean & others

29 April 1870

Elijah Mordin
Charlotte Geary

Elijah Mordin
Charlotte Geary
💍 1870/5979

Bachelor
Widow

Bootmaker

23
26

Wellington
Wellington

13 years
many years

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street

12 May 1870

Rev. Robert Ward & others

No	46
Date of Notice	29 April 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elijah Mordin	Charlotte Geary
	💍 1870/5979
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 years	many years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward & others

9 May 1870

Thomas Alfred Scrimshaw
Margaret Donnelly

Thomas Scrimshaw
Margaret Donnelly
💍 1870/5958

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

23
15 10/12

Western Hutt
Hutt

12 years
15 10/12 years

St. Peters and St. Pauls Church, Lower Hutt

Margaret Donnelly, Mother

25 May 1870

Rev. C. Pertins & others

No	47
Date of Notice	9 May 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Scrimshaw	Margaret Donnelly
BDM Match (85%)	Thomas Scrimshaw	Margaret Donnelly
	💍 1870/5958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	23	15 10/12
Dwelling Place	Western Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	12 years	15 10/12 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters and St. Pauls Church, Lower Hutt
Folio
Consent	Margaret Donnelly, Mother
Date of Certificate	25 May 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Pertins & others

12 May 1870

William Francis Dixon
Celia Louisa Hopkins

William Francis Dixon
Celia Louisa Hopkins
💍 1870/6045

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

32
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
2 years

St. Pauls Cathedral, Thorndon

27 May 1870

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

No	48
Date of Notice	12 May 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Dixon	Celia Louisa Hopkins
	💍 1870/6045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Cathedral, Thorndon
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.H. Ewald M.A. & others

16 May 1870

Thomas Gray
Emma Mann

Thomas Gray
Emma Mann
💍 1870/5799

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

32
26

Wainuiomata
Wainuiomata

5 years
16 months

Residence of the Rev. James Paterson, Wellington Terrace

16 May 1870

Rev. James Paterson & others

No	49
Date of Notice	16 May 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gray	Emma Mann
	💍 1870/5799
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Wainuiomata	Wainuiomata
Length of Residence	5 years	16 months
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. James Paterson, Wellington Terrace
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paterson & others

16 May 1870

Thomas Morgan
Matilda Brown

Thomas Morgan
Matilda Brown
💍 1870/5985

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

30
19

Porirua Road
Porirua Bay

many years
many years

Residence of Mr. David Brown, Porirua Bay

David Brown, Father

16 May 1870

Rev. Robert Ward & others

No	50
Date of Notice	16 May 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Morgan	Matilda Brown
	💍 1870/5985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Porirua Road	Porirua Bay
Length of Residence	many years	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. David Brown, Porirua Bay
Folio
Consent	David Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	16 May 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Ward & others

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).