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 270

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

11 July 1870

John Parish
Anne Rivers

John Parish
Annie Rivers
💍 1870/5937

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican

nearly 25 years
21 10/12

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
2 years

St Peter's Church, Te Aro

11 July 1870

Rev Arthur Stock B.A. & others

No	69
Date of Notice	11 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Parish	Anne Rivers
BDM Match (96%)	John Parish	Annie Rivers
	💍 1870/5937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican
Age	nearly 25 years	21 10/12
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Te Aro
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev Arthur Stock B.A. & others

11 July 1870

Daniel Armstrong
Susan Eagar

Daniel Armstrong
Susan Eagar
💍 1870/5826

Bachelor
Widow

Laborer

40 years
40 years

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
about 5 years

Residence of the said Susan Eagar, Courtenay Place

11 July 1870

Rev Thomas Buddle & others

No	70
Date of Notice	11 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Armstrong	Susan Eagar
	💍 1870/5826
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Laborer
Age	40 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	about 5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the said Susan Eagar, Courtenay Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Buddle & others

11 July 1870

Frankland Valentine
Barbara Aubrey

Frankland Valentine
Barbara Aubrey
💍 1870/5751

Widower
Widow

Carter

33 years
23 years

Wellington
Wellington

14 years
3 mos

Residence of Mr John Moir, Woolcombe Street

Notice withdrawn see No 76

No	71
Date of Notice	11 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frankland Valentine	Barbara Aubrey
BDM Match (98%)	Frankland Valentine	Barbara Aubrey
	💍 1870/5751
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carter
Age	33 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 years	3 mos
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Moir, Woolcombe Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	Notice withdrawn see No 76
Officiating Minister

12 July 1870

Johann Frederich Wilhelm Baucke
Catherine Eliza Hughes

Johann Frederick Wilhelm Baucke
Catharine Elizabeth Hughes
💍 1870/5988

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22 years
22 years

Wellington
Wellington

2 1/2 year
many years

Residence of Mr H. Leppien, Willis Street

12 July 1870

Rev Robert Ward & others

No	72
Date of Notice	12 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johann Frederich Wilhelm Baucke	Catherine Eliza Hughes
BDM Match (89%)	Johann Frederick Wilhelm Baucke	Catharine Elizabeth Hughes
	💍 1870/5988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 year	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. Leppien, Willis Street
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Ward & others

13 July 1870

Carl Hausmann
Catherine Murphy

Carl Hausman
Catherine Murphy
💍 1870/5874

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Keeper

26 years
20 4/12

Wellington
Wellington

1 1/2 years
20 1/12 years

St Marys Cathedral, Thorndon

Margaret Murphy, mother

13 July 1870

Rev J.B. Petit Jean & others

No	73
Date of Notice	13 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Hausmann	Catherine Murphy
BDM Match (96%)	Carl Hausman	Catherine Murphy
	💍 1870/5874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper
Age	26 years	20 4/12
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	20 1/12 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Cathedral, Thorndon
Folio
Consent	Margaret Murphy, mother
Date of Certificate	13 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev J.B. Petit Jean & others

13 July 1870

William Dixon
Agnes Corney

William Dixon
Agnes Conney
💍 1870/5940

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

21 years
24 years

Wellington
Wellington

21 years
5 years

St Peter's Church, Te Aro

28 July 1870

Rev Arthur Stock B.A. & others

No	74
Date of Notice	13 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dixon	Agnes Corney
BDM Match (96%)	William Dixon	Agnes Conney
	💍 1870/5940
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	21 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Te Aro
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev Arthur Stock B.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).