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 865

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1876

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

1 January 1876

Frederick Fratter Wellmott
Jane Hempseed

Frederick Walter Willmott
Jane Hempseed
💍 1876/701

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker

25
23

George Street, Port Chalmers
Sawyers Bay, District

12 months
17 years

At Mr North's House, George Street, Port Chalmers

76/638

7 January 1876

Rev. William Johnstone

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Fratter Wellmott	Jane Hempseed
BDM Match (92%)	Frederick Walter Willmott	Jane Hempseed
	💍 1876/701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	George Street, Port Chalmers	Sawyers Bay, District
Length of Residence	12 months	17 years
Marriage Place	At Mr North's House, George Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/638
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Johnstone

10 January 1876

Charles Millar
Margaret Dood

Charles Millar
Margaret Dodds
💍 1876/142

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

34
21

Purakanui
Deborah Bay

5 months
1 year

At the Presbyterian Church, Port Chalmers

76/635

10 January 1876

Rev. F. W. Isitt

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Millar	Margaret Dood
BDM Match (93%)	Charles Millar	Margaret Dodds
	💍 1876/142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Purakanui	Deborah Bay
Length of Residence	5 months	1 year
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/635
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Isitt

15 February 1876

Robert John Wells
Julia Hand

Robert John Wills
Julia Hand
💍 1876/143

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Servant

22
20

Harrington Street, Port Chalmers
Harrington Street, Port Chalmers

6 months
5 months

At the House of Mrs Allwood, Harrington Street, Port Chalmers

76/636

15 February 1876

Rev. F. W. Isitt

No	3
Date of Notice	15 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Wells	Julia Hand
BDM Match (97%)	Robert John Wills	Julia Hand
	💍 1876/143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Servant
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Harrington Street, Port Chalmers	Harrington Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 months	5 months
Marriage Place	At the House of Mrs Allwood, Harrington Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/636
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Isitt

3 March 1876

Charles Jamieson
Amy Walpert

Charles Jamieson
Amy Walpole
💍 1876/693

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

24
20

Sawyers Street, Port Chalmers
George Street, Port Chalmers

6 months
10 months

At the Congregational Parsonage, Port Chalmers

76/637

No Parents or Guardians in the Colony

3 March 1876

Rev. James Maxwell

No	4
Date of Notice	3 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Jamieson	Amy Walpert
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Jamieson	Amy Walpole
	💍 1876/693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Sawyers Street, Port Chalmers	George Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 months	10 months
Marriage Place	At the Congregational Parsonage, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/637
Consent	No Parents or Guardians in the Colony
Date of Certificate	3 March 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell

28 March 1876

Thomas Rose
Agnes Retehie

Thomas Rose
Agnes Ritchie
💍 1876/700

Widower
Spinster

Joiner
Housekeeper

49
34

Magnolia Street, Port Chalmers
Scotia Street, Port Chalmers

5 years
5 months

In the House of Mr R. Ritchie, Scotia Street, Port Chalmers

76/634

28 March 1876

Rev. James Maxwell

No	5
Date of Notice	28 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Rose	Agnes Retehie
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Rose	Agnes Ritchie
	💍 1876/700
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Housekeeper
Age	49	34
Dwelling Place	Magnolia Street, Port Chalmers	Scotia Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	5 years	5 months
Marriage Place	In the House of Mr R. Ritchie, Scotia Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	76/634
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell

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).