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 246

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1871

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

13 January 1871

John Garnold
Edith Lee

John Garnold
Edith Lee
💍 1871/5004

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

34
20

Upper Hutt
Upper Hutt

13 years
many years

Trentham Parsonage, Upper Hutt

71/371

no parent or guardian

28 January 1871

Rev. Thomas Fancourt & others

No	7
Date of Notice	13 January 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Garnold	Edith Lee
	💍 1871/5004
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	13 years	many years
Marriage Place	Trentham Parsonage, Upper Hutt
Folio	71/371
Consent	no parent or guardian
Date of Certificate	28 January 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Fancourt & others

16 January 1871

William Morgan
Mary Ann Packham

William Morgan
Mary Ann Peckham
💍 1871/4845

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

35
20

Tawa Flat
Tawa Flat

25 years
20 years

Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street

71/317

William Packham, father

16 January 1871

Rev. John Dumbell & others

No	8
Date of Notice	16 January 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Morgan	Mary Ann Packham
BDM Match (97%)	William Morgan	Mary Ann Peckham
	💍 1871/4845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Tawa Flat	Tawa Flat
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Primitive Methodist Chapel, Sydney Street
Folio	71/317
Consent	William Packham, father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dumbell & others

17 January 1871

James Cunningham
Susan Aston

James Cunningham
Susan Aston
💍 1871/4848

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

36
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
4 months

Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street

71/318

17 January 1871

Rev. John Moir & others

No	9
Date of Notice	17 January 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cunningham	Susan Aston
	💍 1871/4848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of the Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street
Folio	71/318
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir & others

18 January 1871

Denison Cochran
Barbara Hutchinson

Denison Cochran
Barbara Huchinson
💍 1871/4851

Bachelor
Widow

Solicitors Clerk

41
40

Brougham Street, Wellington
Brougham Street, Wellington

17 years
18 years

Residence of Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington

71/319

18 January 1871

Rev. John Moir & others

No	10
Date of Notice	18 January 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denison Cochran	Barbara Hutchinson
BDM Match (97%)	Denison Cochran	Barbara Huchinson
	💍 1871/4851
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Solicitors Clerk
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Brougham Street, Wellington	Brougham Street, Wellington
Length of Residence	17 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio	71/319
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir & others

19 January 1871

Henry Frederic Norris
Charlotte Emma Borlase

Henry Frederic Norris
Charlotte Emma Borlase
💍 1871/8190

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon

26
23

Wellington
Thorndon, Wellington

4 months
12 years

St Paul's Cathedral, Thorndon

72/469

19 January 1871

Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Wellington & others

No	11
Date of Notice	19 January 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Frederic Norris	Charlotte Emma Borlase
	💍 1871/8190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Thorndon, Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	12 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Cathedral, Thorndon
Folio	72/469
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1871
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Wellington & others

24 January 1871

William Baker
Amy Robertson

William Baker
Amy Robertson
💍 1871/4902

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
20

Karori
Wellington

22 years
14 years

Residence of Mr. David Robertson, Thorndon

71/336

David Robertson, father

8 February 1871

Rev. W. J. Dean & others

No	12
Date of Notice	24 January 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Baker	Amy Robertson
	💍 1871/4902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Karori	Wellington
Length of Residence	22 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. David Robertson, Thorndon
Folio	71/336
Consent	David Robertson, father
Date of Certificate	8 February 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Dean & others

24 January 1871

Edwin Walter Woodhouse
Mary Furness

Edwin Walter Woodhouse
Mary Furness
💍 1871/4968

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter Carrier

24
20

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. Smith Furness, Ghuznee Street

71/359

Smith Furness, father

30 January 1871

Rev. Thomas Buddle & others

No	13
Date of Notice	24 January 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Walter Woodhouse	Mary Furness
	💍 1871/4968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Smith Furness, Ghuznee Street
Folio	71/359
Consent	Smith Furness, father
Date of Certificate	30 January 1871
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Buddle & 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 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).