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 318

District of Wellington 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

13 January 1876

Joseph Snow
Louisa Mary Donnelly

Joseph Snow
Louisa Mary Donnelly
💍 1876/230

Bachelor
Spinster

Lithographer

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
9 years

House of William Hunter, Molesworth Street, Wellington

76/69

Consent of Margaret Hodgins formerly Donnelly, mother

18 January 1876

Rev. Arthur Petit Jean, RC

No	8
Date of Notice	13 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Snow	Louisa Mary Donnelly
	💍 1876/230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lithographer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	House of William Hunter, Molesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	76/69
Consent	Consent of Margaret Hodgins formerly Donnelly, mother
Date of Certificate	18 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Petit Jean, RC

14 January 1876

William Pascoe
Frances Knight

William Guscoign Beard
Frances Knight
💍 1876/484

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister

25
23

Wellington
Wellington

[illegible]
about 6 years

St Paul's Cathedral, Molesworth Street

76/334

14 January 1876

Rev. Bishop, Wellington, CofE

No	9
Date of Notice	14 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Pascoe	Frances Knight
BDM Match (77%)	William Guscoign Beard	Frances Knight
	💍 1876/484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	[illegible]	about 6 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Cathedral, Molesworth Street
Folio	76/334
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Bishop, Wellington, CofE

14 January 1876

George Whitsture
Susan McNamara

George Wiltshire
Suzana McNamara
💍 1876/469

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Housemaid

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

[illegible]
9 months

Roman Catholic Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington

76/343

17 January 1876

Very Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilly, RC

No	10
Date of Notice	14 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Whitsture	Susan McNamara
BDM Match (81%)	George Wiltshire	Suzana McNamara
	💍 1876/469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Housemaid
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	[illegible]	9 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	76/343
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. P. O'Reilly, RC

14 January 1876

Charles Rous Marten
Emily Jane Nicholson

Charles Rous Martin
Emily Jane Hickson
💍 1876/461

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
24 years

Church of St Peter, Willis Street

76/327

17 January 1876

Reverend Archibald Stock, CofE

No	11
Date of Notice	14 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Rous Marten	Emily Jane Nicholson
BDM Match (87%)	Charles Rous Martin	Emily Jane Hickson
	💍 1876/461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of St Peter, Willis Street
Folio	76/327
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Reverend Archibald Stock, CofE

18 January 1876

Hans Petersen
Margaret Baillie

Hans Peterson
Margaret Baillie
💍 1876/224

Bachelor
Spinster

Boatbuilder

32
33

Masterton, but now residing in Wellington
Wellington

3 days
14 days

House of Mr. J. Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington

76/61

18 January 1876

Rev. J. Paterson, Pres

No	12
Date of Notice	18 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hans Petersen	Margaret Baillie
BDM Match (96%)	Hans Peterson	Margaret Baillie
	💍 1876/224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boatbuilder
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton, but now residing in Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	76/61
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, Pres

20 January 1876

William Henry Skersey
Matilda Baker

William Henry Sneesby
Matilda Baker
💍 1876/462

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor
Servant

24
23

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
[illegible]

Cathedral of St Paul's, Mulgrave Street

76/336

20 January 1876

Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

No	13
Date of Notice	20 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Skersey	Matilda Baker
BDM Match (93%)	William Henry Sneesby	Matilda Baker
	💍 1876/462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor	Servant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	[illegible]
Marriage Place	Cathedral of St Paul's, Mulgrave Street
Folio	76/336
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

20 January 1876

Francis Whiteman
Mary Ann Greenwood

Francis Whiteman
Mary Ann Greenwood
💍 1876/234

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
20

Hutt, Wairarapa Valley
Upper Hutt

10 years
16 years

Church of England, Upper Hutt

76/40

Consent of Ellen Greenwood, [illegible]

20 January 1876

Rev. Charles A. J. Nicholls, CofE

No	14
Date of Notice	20 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Whiteman	Mary Ann Greenwood
	💍 1876/234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Hutt, Wairarapa Valley	Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	10 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Upper Hutt
Folio	76/40
Consent	Consent of Ellen Greenwood, [illegible]
Date of Certificate	20 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles A. J. Nicholls, CofE

21 January 1876

John Hugh Cosgrove
Katherine Isobel Cruickshank

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

24
21

Wellington Harbour
Wadesdown

10 days
10 days

Cathedral of St Paul's, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

76/335

21 January 1876

Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

No	15
Date of Notice	21 January 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hugh Cosgrove	Katherine Isobel Cruickshank
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington Harbour	Wadesdown
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Cathedral of St Paul's, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	76/335
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

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).