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 259

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 1877 Registrar Garland W. Woon

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
40	16 October 1877	Robert Warner Agnes Stone	Robert Warner Agnes Stone 💍 1877/2249	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	Brunswick Line Kiri-kiri	12 months at the private 11 years residence of John Stone, Kiri-kiri	77/2214		16 October 1877	Rev. Geo. Stannard
41	20 October 1877	George Lloyd Alice Charlotte Palmer	George Lloyd Alice Charlotte Palmer 💍 1877/2248	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	26 21	Wanganui Wanganui	4 days in the Registrar's 3 1/2 days office	77/2216		20 [illegible]	Mr. Moon
42	25 October 1877	Charles Pope Lilian Sandrin	Charles Pope Lilian Tardevin 💍 1877/2378	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 22	[illegible] [illegible]	3 days at the private 10 months residence of Rev. J. Treadwell, Wanganui	77/2343		25 [illegible]	Rev. James Treadwell
43	16 November 1877	Nevil Septimus Walker Annie Aubrey	Nevil Septimus Walker Annie Aubrey 💍 1877/2379	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	35 27	[illegible] [illegible]	14 days at the private 14 days residence of Rev. J. Treadwell, Wanganui	77/2344		17.16 [illegible]	Rev. James Treadwell
44	26 November 1877	William Bamber Eliza Octavia Hall	William Bamber Eliza Octavia Hale 💍 1877/2380	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 22	[illegible] [illegible]	6 years at the private residence 2 years H.M.W. Bandes	77/2345		[illegible]	Rev. James Treadwell
45	19 December 1877	William Parker Mary Jane Waters	William Parkes Mary Jane Waters 💍 1877/2250 William Coker Mary Waters 💍 1878/398	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 23	[illegible] [illegible]	5 months in the W.S. Lyons 3 days Church	77/2218		19 December [illegible]	Rev. R. Barin
46	19 [illegible]	James William Logan Celia Farnie	James William Logan Celia Farine 💍 1877/2381	Bachelor Spinster	Coach builder	24 19	[illegible] [illegible]	3 years at the private 19 years residence of John Farnie	77/2346	John Farnie, Father	19 [illegible]	Rev. James Treadwell
47	22 [illegible]	Horace Granoles Mary Hayes Avent	Horace Crowley Mary Hylton Avent 💍 1877/2932	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	[illegible] [illegible]	10 years in the English 22 years Church, Wanganui	77/2943		22 [illegible]	Rev. F.L. Tudor
48	27 [illegible]	Samuel Rufall Caroline Parker	Samuel Russell Caroline Parkes 💍 1877/2252	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 24	[illegible] [illegible]	5 days at the private 24 years residence of Mr. G.S. Darklo, Wanganui	77/2219		27 [illegible]	Rev. R. Barin
49	27 [illegible]	Michael Lyons Agnes Haylock	Michael Syron Agnes Haylock 💍 1877/2382	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	72 21	[illegible] [illegible]	5 days in the Roman 5 days Catholic Church	77/2344		27 [illegible]	Rev. C.A. Kirk
50	31 [illegible]	Thomas Humphery Jones Eveline Louisa Jago	Thomas Humphrey Jones Eveline Louisa Jago 💍 1877/2253	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 7	[illegible] [illegible]	25 years at the private 3 years residence of B. Jones, Wanganui	77/2220	Joseph Jago, Father	31 [illegible]	Rev. R. Barin

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).