Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 249

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1871 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

14 March 1871

Joseph McGiffert Cleland
Annie Dixon

Joseph McGiffert Cleland
Annie Dixon
💍 1871/4899

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

35 years
21

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
13 years

Residence of Mr Geo Dixon, Tinakori Road

71/335

29 March 1871

Rev. W.H West B.A. & others

No	28
Date of Notice	14 March 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph McGiffert Cleland	Annie Dixon
	💍 1871/4899
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	35 years	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Geo Dixon, Tinakori Road
Folio	71/335
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.H West B.A. & others

17 March 1871

Anders Andersen
Martha Lovell

Anders Anderson
Martha Lovell
💍 1871/4896

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

29 years
39

Featherston at present Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 weeks

Residence of the Rev. W.H. West B.A., Hill Street

71/334

17 March 1871

Rev. W.H. West B.A. & others

No	29
Date of Notice	17 March 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anders Andersen	Martha Lovell
BDM Match (97%)	Anders Anderson	Martha Lovell
	💍 1871/4896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	29 years	39
Dwelling Place	Featherston at present Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. W.H. West B.A., Hill Street
Folio	71/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.H. West B.A. & others

25 March 1871

Martin Andersen
Johane Vilhelmine Olsen

Martin Andersen
Johane Wilhelmina Olsen
💍 1871/4944

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer

30 years
25

Wellington (late of Norway)
Wellington (late of Sweden)

6 days
6 days

Residence of A.F. Halcombe Esq, Willis Street

71/350

25 March 1871

Rev. James Paterson & others

No	30
Date of Notice	25 March 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Andersen	Johane Vilhelmine Olsen
BDM Match (96%)	Martin Andersen	Johane Wilhelmina Olsen
	💍 1871/4944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer
Age	30 years	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington (late of Norway)	Wellington (late of Sweden)
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Residence of A.F. Halcombe Esq, Willis Street
Folio	71/350
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paterson & others

27 March 1871

John Barlow
Ann Stine

John Barlow
Ann Stine
💍 1871/4860

Bachelor
Widow

Butcher

25 years
33

Wellington
Wellington

about 3 years
about 20 years

Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street

71/322

27 March 1871

Rev. John Moir & others

No	31
Date of Notice	27 March 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Barlow	Ann Stine
	💍 1871/4860
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Butcher
Age	25 years	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	about 3 years	about 20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street
Folio	71/322
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir & others

27 March 1871

Robert Pharazyn
Emily Whitbread Lomax

Robert Pharazyn
Emily Whithead Lomax
💍 1871/8193

Bachelor
Widow

Esq J.P.

Full age
Full age

Wellington
Wellington

many years
many years

St Paul's Thorndon, Wellington

72/470

27 March 1871

Rev. W.H Ewald & others

No	32
Date of Notice	27 March 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Pharazyn	Emily Whitbread Lomax
BDM Match (95%)	Robert Pharazyn	Emily Whithead Lomax
	💍 1871/8193
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Esq J.P.
Age	Full age	Full age
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	many years	many years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Thorndon, Wellington
Folio	72/470
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.H Ewald & others

28 March 1871

George Evans
Annie Winton

George Evans
Annie Winton
💍 1871/4947

Widower
Spinster

Barman

35 years
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
5 years

Residence of the said George Evans, Ghuznee Street

71/351

28 March 1871

Rev. James Paterson & others

No	33
Date of Notice	28 March 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Evans	Annie Winton
	💍 1871/4947
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Barman
Age	35 years	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of the said George Evans, Ghuznee Street
Folio	71/351
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Paterson & others

29 March 1871

Robert Augustus Curtis
Elizabeth Sarah Murch

Robert Augustus Curtis
Elizabeth Sarah Murch
💍 1871/4869

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

21 years
21 years

Wellington
Wellington

many years
many years

Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street

71/325

Certificate not yet issued.

No	34
Date of Notice	29 March 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Augustus Curtis	Elizabeth Sarah Murch
	💍 1871/4869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	21 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	many years	many years
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street
Folio	71/325
Consent
Date of Certificate	Certificate not yet issued.
Officiating Minister

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 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).