Day five – Archives

After a quiet start to the day, I walked up to National Archives, escorted by Lloyd for the first section. My very simple plan was to find as many ‘Intention to Marry’ notices as possible for a friend, then look for some of mine. These are an early form of marriage licence, and were in use from 1855 for 100 years. They give most of the information found on a certificate, with the great advantage of being free (if you are at Wellington Archives in person). If one of the partners is under 21, they also give the name of the person who gave consent.

After a brief refresher course on how to order documents, and where the post 1881 folders of reference numbers are to be found, I ordered my first five, then spent the next 40 minutes looking up some of mine. One of the things I wanted to find out was where they married, and in later years especially you really need to know the district, and not just the region. I guessed correctly for all but one, which was not bad. Some dates that I had been given were incorrect, but most were no more than a month out, so did not take long to find.

After a brisk 40-minute walk home, I changed and was ready to meet our friend Jane for tea just aftr 5:50. Jane is the Palmerston North friend that we most often house-sit for, and we do not see enough of her, so this was an unexpected bonus. She is here for two nights for a ‘cat business’ AGM. We took her to our usual Italian restaurant, where they thanked us for introducing new friends to them, and offered us a limoncello on the house. It is only the third time in four days we have eaten there, and they treat us like regulars.