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 299

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar Allwimer

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

17 January 1877

Abraham Manoy
Maria Moss

Abraham Manoy
Mariah Moss
💍 1877/307

Bachelor
Spinster

Wine & Spirit Merchant

35
20

Wellington
do

4 days
3 years

The Synagogue Terrace

77/212

Henry Moss, father

17 January 1877

Rev. D. M. Isaacs

No	16
Date of Notice	17 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abraham Manoy	Maria Moss
BDM Match (95%)	Abraham Manoy	Mariah Moss
	💍 1877/307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wine & Spirit Merchant
Age	35	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	The Synagogue Terrace
Folio	77/212
Consent	Henry Moss, father
Date of Certificate	17 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. M. Isaacs

18 January 1877

Henry James Freeman
Hannah Allen

Henry James Freeman
Hannah Allen
💍 1877/301

Bachelor
Spinster

Watermaker

40
26

Wellington
do

10 yrs
26 yrs

Wesleyan Church Manners Street Wellington

77/183

18 January 1877

Rev. Mr Dewsbury

No	17
Date of Notice	18 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Freeman	Hannah Allen
	💍 1877/301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watermaker
Age	40	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	10 yrs	26 yrs
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Manners Street Wellington
Folio	77/183
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Dewsbury

23 January 1877

Alfred Arthur Mins
Jessie Moir

Alfred Arthur Elkins
Jessie Moir
💍 1877/305

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Master

28
27

at present of Wellington
do

3 days
do

St Paul's Mulgrave Street Wellington

77/202

Alfred Mins of Wellington

23 January 1877

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	18
Date of Notice	23 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Arthur Mins	Jessie Moir
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Arthur Elkins	Jessie Moir
	💍 1877/305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Master
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	at present of Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 days	do
Marriage Place	St Paul's Mulgrave Street Wellington
Folio	77/202
Consent	Alfred Mins of Wellington
Date of Certificate	23 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

24 January 1877

George Charles Duwdney
Ellen Dunn Caines

George Charles Dewdury
Ellen Dunn Caines
💍 1877/348

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockrider
General Servant

39
26

at present of Wellington
do

4 days
do

Registrar's Office Wellington

77/229

24 January 1877

Registrar Wellington

No	19
Date of Notice	24 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Charles Duwdney	Ellen Dunn Caines
BDM Match (93%)	George Charles Dewdury	Ellen Dunn Caines
	💍 1877/348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockrider	General Servant
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	at present of Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 days	do
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	77/229
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Registrar Wellington

25 January 1877

Richard Davies
Emily Worton

Richard Davies
Emily Wootton
💍 1877/373

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

24
24

Wellington
do

4 years
over 4 years

St Paul's Mulgrave Street Wellington

77/254

25 January 1877

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	20
Date of Notice	25 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Davies	Emily Worton
BDM Match (92%)	Richard Davies	Emily Wootton
	💍 1877/373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 years	over 4 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Mulgrave Street Wellington
Folio	77/254
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

25 January 1877

John Shine
Isabella Boston

John Shine
Isabella Boston
💍 1877/302

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
25

Wellington
do

2 years
3 days

House of Mrs Lanchan Vivian Street Wellington

77/184

23 January 1877

Rev. Mr Dewsbury

No	21
Date of Notice	25 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shine	Isabella Boston
	💍 1877/302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Lanchan Vivian Street Wellington
Folio	77/184
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Dewsbury

26 January 1877

Arthur Rountree
Fanny Nash

Arthur Rountree
Fanny Nash
💍 1877/285

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipbuilder
Machinist

23
19

Wellington
do

3 years
2 years

House of John McKennon Courtenay Place Wellington formerly Nash

77/196

Mary Bennett

26 January 1877

Rev. C. S. Ogg

No	22
Date of Notice	26 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Rountree	Fanny Nash
	💍 1877/285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipbuilder	Machinist
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of John McKennon Courtenay Place Wellington formerly Nash
Folio	77/196
Consent	Mary Bennett
Date of Certificate	26 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Ogg

29 January 1877

Constantinus Cardinale
Angelina Spagnola

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

36
26

Wellington
do

6 months
6 months

St Mary & the Angels Boulcott Street Wellington

29 January 1877

Revd. I. I. P. O'Reilly

No	23
Date of Notice	29 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Constantinus Cardinale	Angelina Spagnola
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St Mary & the Angels Boulcott Street Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. I. I. P. O'Reilly

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).