Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 089

District of [illegible] Quarter ending [illegible]

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

451

18 February 1876

James McConaghy
Elizabeth Pauline Crawshaw

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25
18

Papatoetoe
Pakuranga

25 years
18 years

Church of England, Panmure

John Crawshaw, Father

18 February 1876

Rev. Frank Gould, CofE

No	451
Date of Notice	18 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McConaghy	Elizabeth Pauline Crawshaw
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Papatoetoe	Pakuranga
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Panmure
Folio
Consent	John Crawshaw, Father
Date of Certificate	18 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank Gould, CofE

452

21 February 1876

John Giles
Sarah Harrison

John Giles
Sarah Harrison
💍 1876/172

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
[illegible]

22
27

Sale Street, Auckland
Pitt Street, Auckland

2 years
1 year

Wesleyan Church, Auckland

76/11

21 February 1876

Rev. A. Reid

No	452
Date of Notice	21 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Giles	Sarah Harrison
	💍 1876/172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	[illegible]
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Sale Street, Auckland	Pitt Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Auckland
Folio	76/11
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Reid

453

21 February 1876

John Graike
Margaret McGuire

John Craike
Margaret McGuire
💍 1876/193

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Dressmaker

20
18

Grey Street, Auckland
Wellington Street, Auckland

3 years
3 years

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

76/206

Jane McGuire, Mother

21 February 1876

Rev. R. S. Hassard, CofE

No	453
Date of Notice	21 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Graike	Margaret McGuire
BDM Match (95%)	John Craike	Margaret McGuire
	💍 1876/193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Dressmaker
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Grey Street, Auckland	Wellington Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	76/206
Consent	Jane McGuire, Mother
Date of Certificate	21 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Hassard, CofE

454

21 February 1876

John Minnis
Ellen Hubble

John Minnis
Ellen Hubble
💍 1876/160

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

32
29

Mount Albert
Symonds Street, Auckland

11 years
18 months

Presbyterian Church of Auckland

76/22

21 February 1876

Rev. D. Wallis, Pres

No	454
Date of Notice	21 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Minnis	Ellen Hubble
	💍 1876/160
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Mount Albert	Symonds Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church of Auckland
Folio	76/22
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Wallis, Pres

455

21 February 1876

Thomas Bailey
Mary Bailey

Thomas Bailey
Mary Bailey
💍 1876/194

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

41
41

Manugaturoto
Union Street, Auckland

6 weeks
2 weeks

St. Matthews Church, Auckland

76/21

21 February 1876

Rev. R.S. Hassard, CofE

No	455
Date of Notice	21 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bailey	Mary Bailey
	💍 1876/194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Manugaturoto	Union Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	6 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	76/21
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.S. Hassard, CofE

456

22 February 1876

Thomas Lawless
Catherine Gough

Thomas Lawless
Catherine Gough
💍 1876/171

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
23

Auckland
Albert Street, Auckland

3 days
14 years

St. Francis de Sales Church, Auckland

76/10

22 February 1876

Rev. Father O'Dwyer, RC

No	456
Date of Notice	22 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lawless	Catherine Gough
	💍 1876/171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Albert Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis de Sales Church, Auckland
Folio	76/10
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Dwyer, RC

457

22 February 1876

John Farrell
Mary Sullivan

John Farrell
Mary Sullivan
💍 1876/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

32
22

Penrose
Penrose

5 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu

76/250

22 February 1876

Rev. M. D. O'Hara, RC

No	457
Date of Notice	22 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Farrell	Mary Sullivan
	💍 1876/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Penrose	Penrose
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Otahuhu
Folio	76/250
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. D. O'Hara, RC

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).