Intentions to Marry, 1874

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840386, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 331

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1874 Registrar R. C. Hammerton

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

194

19 October 1874

Henry Dodsworth Edwards
Ellen Pickess
d: T.G. Pickess, Wellington, Laborer

Henry Dodsworth Edwards
Ellen Pickess
💍 1874/12367

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker

23
18

Wellington
Wellington

23 yrs
17 yrs

House of Rev J. Moir, Wellington

74/2222

T. G. Pickess, Father

2 November 1874

Rev J. Moir

No	194
Date of Notice	19 October 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dodsworth Edwards	Ellen Pickess d: T.G. Pickess, Wellington, Laborer
	💍 1874/12367
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	23 yrs	17 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Rev J. Moir, Wellington
Folio	74/2222
Consent	T. G. Pickess, Father
Date of Certificate	2 November 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Moir

195

19 October 1874

Henry Richards Hollis
Emily Daysh

Henry Richard Hollis
Emily Daysh
💍 1874/12277

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Servant

23
18

Wellington
Wellington

3 yrs
18 yrs

House of Eli Buck, Boulcott Street

74/2192

John Daysh, Father

2 November 1874

Rev W. Morley

No	195
Date of Notice	19 October 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Richards Hollis	Emily Daysh
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Richard Hollis	Emily Daysh
	💍 1874/12277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Servant
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 yrs	18 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Eli Buck, Boulcott Street
Folio	74/2192
Consent	John Daysh, Father
Date of Certificate	2 November 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Morley

196

20 October 1874

Henry Minifie
Mary Jane Hill

Henry Minifie
Mary Jane Hill
💍 1874/12271

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Servant

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

21 yrs
16 mo

Wesleyan Church, Manners Street

74/2190

No one authorised in Wellington

20 October 1874

Rev W. Morley

No	196
Date of Notice	20 October 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Minifie	Mary Jane Hill
	💍 1874/12271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Servant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	21 yrs	16 mo
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Manners Street
Folio	74/2190
Consent	No one authorised in Wellington
Date of Certificate	20 October 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Morley

197

20 October 1874

Henry John Oxley
Eliza Ann Daysh
d: S. Daysh, Taita, Farmer

Henry John Oxley
Eliza Ann Daysh
💍 1874/12274

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
23

Wellington
Wellington

6 yrs
23 yrs

House of Eli Buck, Boulcott Street

74/2191

3 November 1874

Rev W. Morley

No	197
Date of Notice	20 October 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Oxley	Eliza Ann Daysh d: S. Daysh, Taita, Farmer
	💍 1874/12274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 yrs	23 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Eli Buck, Boulcott Street
Folio	74/2191
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Morley

198

21 October 1874

James Austing
Ann Muir
formerly Beveridge

James Austing
Ann Muir
💍 1874/13765

Widower
Widow

Gas fitter
Servant

36
29

Wellington
Wellington

5 mo
3 mo

Presbyterian Church, Willis Street

74/2701

4 November 1874

Rev J. Paterson

No	198
Date of Notice	21 October 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Austing	Ann Muir formerly Beveridge
	💍 1874/13765
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gas fitter	Servant
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 mo	3 mo
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Willis Street
Folio	74/2701
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Paterson

199

21 October 1874

William Henry Cook
Fanny Sarah Muscutt

William Henry Cook
Fanny Sarah Muscutt
💍 1874/12370

Widower
Spinster

Sailmaker
Milliner

43
41

Wellington
Wellington

3 yrs
10 dys

House of Rev J. Moir

74/2223

21 October 1874

Rev J. Moir

No	199
Date of Notice	21 October 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Cook	Fanny Sarah Muscutt
	💍 1874/12370
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker	Milliner
Age	43	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 yrs	10 dys
Marriage Place	House of Rev J. Moir
Folio	74/2223
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Moir

200

21 October 1874

Thomas William Bartrum
Annie Kenealey

Thomas William Bertram
Annie Keanealey
💍 1874/13057

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

27
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 yrs
8 mo

St Pauls Church, Thorndon

74/2458

7 November 1874

Rev B.W. Harvey

No	200
Date of Notice	21 October 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Bartrum	Annie Kenealey
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas William Bertram	Annie Keanealey
	💍 1874/13057
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 yrs	8 mo
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Thorndon
Folio	74/2458
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev B.W. Harvey

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

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).