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 301

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar A. H. Wilmer

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

19 February 1877

John Russell
Sarah Elizabeth Weslow

John Russell
Sarah Elizabeth Weston
💍 1877/308

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
21

Stokes Valley
Wellington

3 years
2 years

St James's Hutt

77/213

13 February 1877

Rev. Thos. Yacouch

No	31
Date of Notice	19 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Russell	Sarah Elizabeth Weslow
BDM Match (95%)	John Russell	Sarah Elizabeth Weston
	💍 1877/308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Stokes Valley	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St James's Hutt
Folio	77/213
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Yacouch

14 February 1877

George Rawson Coulson
Ellen Jupp

George Rawson Coulson
Ellen Jupp
💍 1877/282

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21
20

Wellington
do

3 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Manners St Wellington

77/187

Stephen Mitchell Guardian

14 February 1877

Reve Alex Reed

No	32
Date of Notice	14 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rawson Coulson	Ellen Jupp
	💍 1877/282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Manners St Wellington
Folio	77/187
Consent	Stephen Mitchell Guardian
Date of Certificate	14 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Reve Alex Reed

16 February 1877

Christopher Taylor
Mary Ann Hunk

Christopher Taylor
Mary Ann Hunt
💍 1877/306

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

34
23

Wellington
do

4 years
do

House of Mrs Blake, Biddle Street Wellington

77/211

16 February 1877

Rev. H. B. Redstone

No	33
Date of Notice	16 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Taylor	Mary Ann Hunk
BDM Match (96%)	Christopher Taylor	Mary Ann Hunt
	💍 1877/306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 years	do
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Blake, Biddle Street Wellington
Folio	77/211
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Redstone

17 February 1877

Arthur Church
Ann Jane Davies

Arthur Chuck
Ann Jane Davis
💍 1877/317

Bachelor
Spinster

Sadler

21
19

Wellington
do

4 years
19 years

House of Rev. W. M. Kirk, James Davies, The Terrace Wellington

77/221

17 February 1877

Rev. W. H. West

No	34
Date of Notice	17 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Church	Ann Jane Davies
BDM Match (89%)	Arthur Chuck	Ann Jane Davis
	💍 1877/317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sadler
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. M. Kirk, James Davies, The Terrace Wellington
Folio	77/221
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. West

19 February 1877

James Griffiths
Janet Jane Tomkins

James Griffiths
Jannet Pearce Timkins
💍 1877/941

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

23
23

Waimetu
do

2 weeks
1 month

Cathedral of St Pauls, Mulgrave Street Wellington

77/186

19 February 1877

Revd B. W. Harvey

No	35
Date of Notice	19 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Griffiths	Janet Jane Tomkins
BDM Match (86%)	James Griffiths	Jannet Pearce Timkins
	💍 1877/941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Waimetu	do
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 month
Marriage Place	Cathedral of St Pauls, Mulgrave Street Wellington
Folio	77/186
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd B. W. Harvey

20 February 1877

Thomas Gole
Laura Gibbons

Thomas Gole
Laura Gibbons
💍 1877/294

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

31
26

at present in Wellington
Wellington

5 days
1 day

St Mark's, Adelaide Road Wellington

77/198

20 February 1877

Revd R. Coffey

No	36
Date of Notice	20 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gole	Laura Gibbons
	💍 1877/294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	at present in Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	1 day
Marriage Place	St Mark's, Adelaide Road Wellington
Folio	77/198
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd R. Coffey

20 February 1877

James Moran
Adelaide Anderson

James Moran
Adelaide Anderson
💍 1877/327

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler Maker
General Servant

23
22

Wellington
do

23 years
22 years

House of Revd I. Moor, Woolcombe Street Wellington

77/208

20 February 1877

Revd I. Moor

No	37
Date of Notice	20 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Moran	Adelaide Anderson
	💍 1877/327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker	General Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Revd I. Moor, Woolcombe Street Wellington
Folio	77/208
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd I. Moor

26 February 1877

William Avery
Sarah Jane Vincent

William Avery
Sarah Jane Vincent
💍 1877/328

Bachelor
Spinster

Nuttion
Domestic Servant

19
21

at present at Wellington
Wellington

1 month
3 years

House of Revd Wm Moor, Woolcombe Street Wellington

77/209

George Avery, father

26 February 1877

Rev John Moor

No	38
Date of Notice	26 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Avery	Sarah Jane Vincent
	💍 1877/328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Nuttion	Domestic Servant
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	at present at Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Revd Wm Moor, Woolcombe Street Wellington
Folio	77/209
Consent	George Avery, father
Date of Certificate	26 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev John Moor

27 February 1877

George Hay
Ellen Susan Wheeler

George Ray
Ellen Susan Wheeler
💍 1877/295

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Servant

28
20

Wellington
do

About 3 years
do

St Mark's Adelaide Wellington

77/199

27 February 1877

Revd R. Coffey

No	39
Date of Notice	27 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hay	Ellen Susan Wheeler
BDM Match (95%)	George Ray	Ellen Susan Wheeler
	💍 1877/295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Servant
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	About 3 years	do
Marriage Place	St Mark's Adelaide Wellington
Folio	77/199
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd R. Coffey

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).