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 303

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar Alldinner

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

12 March 1877

Thomas Pelham
Ellen Shirley

Thomas Pelham
Ellen Shirley
💍 1877/290

Bachelor
Spinster

Pressman
Domestic Servant

23
22

Wellington
do

18 years
18 months

St Peter's Church, Willis Street Wellington

77/195

12 March 1877

Maurice Arch Stock

No	48
Date of Notice	12 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Pelham	Ellen Shirley
	💍 1877/290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pressman	Domestic Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	18 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Willis Street Wellington
Folio	77/195
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Maurice Arch Stock

12 March 1877

Carlo Fossi
Maria Mancini

Bachelor
Spinster

Newton
Cook

28
24

Wellington
do

6 months
6 months

St Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street Wellington

12 March 1877

Rev. I. P. O'Reilly

No	49
Date of Notice	12 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carlo Fossi	Maria Mancini
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newton	Cook
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. P. O'Reilly

14 March 1877

Robert Cochrane
Eliza Ladd

Robert Cochrane
Eliza Ladd
💍 1877/287

Bachelor
Spinster

Stevedore
Dressmaker

40
41

Wellington
do

4 years
2 years

House of Eliza Ladd, near Hill Street Wellington

77/192

14 March 1877

Rev. C. J. Byng

No	50
Date of Notice	14 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cochrane	Eliza Ladd
	💍 1877/287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stevedore	Dressmaker
Age	40	41
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Eliza Ladd, near Hill Street Wellington
Folio	77/192
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Byng

14 March 1877

Michael Marshall
Eliza Daley

Michael Marshall
Eliza Daley
💍 1877/1343

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

30
20

Wellington
do

2 months
2 months

Church of Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street Wellington

77/292

14 March 1877

Rev. M. J. Kearney

No	51
Date of Notice	14 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Marshall	Eliza Daley
	💍 1877/1343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street Wellington
Folio	77/292
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Kearney

15 March 1877

Gerald Fitzmaurice
Mary Smith

Gerald Fitzmaurice
Lucilla Smith
💍 1877/350

Bachelor
Spinster

Letter

33
20

The Long's White
do

2 months
20 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

77/231

15 March 1877

Registrar Wellington

No	52
Date of Notice	15 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gerald Fitzmaurice	Mary Smith
BDM Match (73%)	Gerald Fitzmaurice	Lucilla Smith
	💍 1877/350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Letter
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	The Long's White	do
Length of Residence	2 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	77/231
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Registrar Wellington

16 March 1877

William Henry McCleland
Emma Webber

William Henry McCleland
Emma Webber
💍 1877/318

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Servant

28
23

Wellington
do

20 years
23 years

House of Rev. W. H. West, The Terrace Wellington

77/222

16 March 1877

Rev. W. H. West

No	53
Date of Notice	16 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry McCleland	Emma Webber
	💍 1877/318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Servant
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. W. H. West, The Terrace Wellington
Folio	77/222
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. West

22 March 1877

William Staples
Frances Riley

William Staples
Frances Riley
💍 1877/297

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Servant

27
27

Wellington
do

8 months
2 months

St Mark's, Adelaide Road Wellington

77/207

22 March 1877

Rev. Rd Coffey

No	54
Date of Notice	22 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Staples	Frances Riley
	💍 1877/297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Servant
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	8 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St Mark's, Adelaide Road Wellington
Folio	77/207
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Rd Coffey

22 March 1877

John Godber
Jane Martin

John Golder
Jane Martin
💍 1877/1350

John Wheeler
Susan Martin
💍 1877/3059

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
21

Upper Hutt
do

28
21

St Joseph's Church, Upper Hutt

77/246

22 March 1877

Rev. F. Yardley

No	55
Date of Notice	22 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Godber	Jane Martin
BDM Match (91%)	John Golder	Jane Martin
	💍 1877/1350
BDM Match (63%)	John Wheeler	Susan Martin
	💍 1877/3059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	do
Length of Residence	28	21
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Upper Hutt
Folio	77/246
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Yardley

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).