Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 255

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar S. W. Woon

No	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
18	04 April 1877	Joseph Gibbs Ellen Atkinson	Joseph Gibbs Ellen Atkinson 💍 1877/1338	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	31 23	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 23 years	English Church	77/1284		04 April 1877	Rev. F. L. Tudor
19	09 April 1877	Garret Brennan Sarah Ann Harris	Garret Brennan Sarah Ann Harris 💍 1877/1339	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	43 26	Palmerston Palmerston	10 years 10 months	English Church	77/1288		09 April 1877	Rev. F. L. Tudor
20	28 April 1877	James Doyle Margaret Welsh	James Doyle Margaret Walsh 💍 1877/895	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 26	Wanganui Wanganui	4 years 3 years	Roman Catholic Church	77/814		28 April 1877	Rev. Father Kirk
21	28 April 1877	Michael Condon Margaret Mahoney	Michael Leydon Margaret Mahoney 💍 1877/896	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 22	Wanganui Wanganui	12 months 22 years	Roman Catholic Church	77/815		28 April 1877	Rev. Father Kirk
22	03 May 1877	Charles Edwin Brewer Ellen Margaret Sibson	Charles Edwin Brewer Ellen Margaret Gibson 💍 1877/1340	Bachelor Spinster	Dealer	26 17	Waitotara Waitotara	10 years 5 years	English Church	77/1289		03 May 1877	Rev. F. L. Tudor
23	04 May 1877	James Calder Mary Neilson	James Calder Mary Neilson 💍 1877/898	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	39 30	Wanganui Wanganui	3 weeks 1 week	Private Residence	77/817		10 May 1877	Rev. R. Barin
24	10 May 1877	John Fenwarden Mary Elizabeth Willis	John Pennwarden Mary Elizabeth Wells 💍 1877/899	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Wanganui Wanganui	3 months 3 weeks	Private Residence	77/818		17 May 1875	Rev. J. Treadwell
25	17 May 1877	John Morgan Jane Higgs	John Morgan Jane Higgs 💍 1877/892	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 26	Wanganui Wanganui	12 days 7 months	Private Residence	77/811		23 May 1877	Rev. J. Treadwell
26	23 May 1877	George Henry Armstrong Mary Ann Sigley	George Henry Armstrong Mary Ann Sigley 💍 1877/893	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	25 26	Wanganui Wanganui	20 years 7 years	Private Residence	77/812		23 May 1877	Rev. J. Treadwell
27	19 June 1877	Joseph York Oliver Anna Jane Austin	Joseph Marke Oliver Hannah Jane Austin 💍 1877/3112	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Painter	21 18	Wanganui Wanganui	2 1/2 years 5 years	Private Residence	77/1599	William Austin, Father	19 June 1877	Rev. J. Treadwell
28	21 June 1877	James Heilson Catherine Elizabeth Jones	James Neilson Catherine Elizabeth Jones 💍 1877/894	Widower Spinster	Farmer Laborer	39 23	Wanganui Wanganui	4 months 4 months	Private Residence	77/813		21 June 1877	Rev. J. Treadwell

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 1899. 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).