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 257

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 September 1877 Registrar M. Moon

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
29	06 July 1877	Alpin Grant Fowler Ellen Bell Lomay	Alpin Grant Fowler Ellen Bell Lonox 💍 1877/1628	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	29 23	Wanganui Wanganui	6 days 6 years	In the English Church, Wanganui	77/1578		06 July 1877	Rev. T. G. Tudor
30	09 July 1877	William Hassan Mason Lavinia Emily Knight	William N Mason Lavinia E Knight 💍 1877/1645	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinetmaker	25 21	Wanganui Wanganui	2 months 4 days	In the private residence of Mr. H. Benson, Wanganui	77/1573		09 July 1877	Rev. R. Bavin
31	14 July 1877	William Lambert Maria Louisa Desjardins		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 21	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 18 months	In the private residence of Rev. R. Bavin, Wanganui			14 July 1877	Rev. R. Bavin
32	17 July 1877	Frederick Townsend Mary Ann Bartley	Frederick Townsend Mary Ann Barkey 💍 1877/1624	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	21 19	Wanganui Wanganui	5 days 6 years	In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui	77/1574	Ann Gravestock, Mother	17 July 1877	Rev. R. Bavin
33	21 August 1877	Michael Collins Margaret Shea	Michael Collins Margaret O'Shea 💍 1877/2099	Bachelor Spinster	Sailor	24 19	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 2 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	77/2065		05 September 1877	Rev. G. H. Kirk
34	21 August 1877	James Gammond Mary Herculson	James Cannons Mary Herculeson 💍 1877/1625 James Calder Mary Neilson 💍 1877/898	Widower Spinster	Gardener	26 28	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 1 1/2 years	In the private residence of Mr. John Williams, Campbelltown	77/1575		21 August 1877	Rev. R. Bavin
35	23 August 1877	Alfred Windsor Elizabeth Brennan	Alfred Dawson Elizabeth Henderson 💍 1877/1175 Alfred Cox Elizabeth Thomas 💍 1877/2403	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	21 21	Wanganui Wanganui	7 months 7 months	In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui			23 August 1877	Rev. R. Bavin
36	11 September 1877	William James Griffin Mary Mc. Namara	William James Griffiths Mary McNamara 💍 1877/2100	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Manager	30 21	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 14 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	77/2066		11 September 1877	Rev. G. H. Kirk
37	17 September 1877	James Stephen Sipe Blanche Allen	James Stephen Pipe Blanche Allen 💍 1877/2254	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 19	Makinikiri Makinikiri	8 months 16 years	In the private residence of Mr. R. Allen, Makinikiri	77/2221	Richard Allen, Father	17 September 1877	Rev. R. Bavin
38	17 September 1877	Joseph Chadwick Emily Eugenia Gray	Joseph Chadwick Emily E Gray 💍 1877/1626	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	Wanganui Wanganui	11 years 12 years	In the private residence of Mrs. Bowers, Wanganui	77/1576	Jane Chadwick, Mother	17 September 1877	Rev. R. Bavin
39	25 September 1877	William Paterson Mary Maria Davidson	William Paterson Mary Maria Davidson 💍 1877/1627	Bachelor Spinster	Innkeeper	33 19	Wanganui Wanganui	10 years 14 years	In the Hotel	77/1577	Thomas V. Trice, Guardian	25 September 1877	Rev. Jas. 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).