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 305

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar [illegible]

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

3 April 1877

Joseph Townsend
Emily Frances Levy

Joseph Townsend
Emily Frances Levy
💍 1877/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

26
19

Wellington
do

12 months
19 years

St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

[illegible]

Solomon Levy, father

7 April 1877

Revd. A. Stock

No	64
Date of Notice	3 April 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Townsend	Emily Frances Levy
	💍 1877/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	12 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	[illegible]
Consent	Solomon Levy, father
Date of Certificate	7 April 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. A. Stock

3 April 1877

Samuel Shutter
Harriet Gilpin

Samuel Shutler
Harriet Gilpin
💍 1877/921

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Servant

33
20

Wellington
do

3 1/2 years
2 1/2 years

House of Mr. Sutton, Barther Street, Wellington

77/840

her own

3 April 1877

Rev. W. N. Weah

No	65
Date of Notice	3 April 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Shutter	Harriet Gilpin
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Shutler	Harriet Gilpin
	💍 1877/921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Servant
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Sutton, Barther Street, Wellington
Folio	77/840
Consent	her own
Date of Certificate	3 April 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. N. Weah

3 April 1877

Herbert Edward Tanner
Morgan Jones

Herbert Edward Tanner
Miriam Jones
💍 1877/1005

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

23
24

Wellington
do

4 years
18 years

House of the Revd. John Muir, Woolcombe, Wellington

77/961

[illegible]

3 April 1877

Revd. John Muir

No	66
Date of Notice	3 April 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Edward Tanner	Morgan Jones
BDM Match (88%)	Herbert Edward Tanner	Miriam Jones
	💍 1877/1005
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	House of the Revd. John Muir, Woolcombe, Wellington
Folio	77/961
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	3 April 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. John Muir

3 April 1877

William Stoutham Short
Augusta Sarah Sleighton

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Teacher

24
22

Wellington
do

2 years
16 years

House of Mrs. Sleighton, Tira Moon Road, Wellington

77/839

[illegible]

3 April 1877

Revd. W. N. Weah

No	67
Date of Notice	3 April 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stoutham Short	Augusta Sarah Sleighton
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Teacher
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Sleighton, Tira Moon Road, Wellington
Folio	77/839
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	3 April 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. W. N. Weah

5 April 1877

Jonathan Bidmead
Eliza Warfield

Jonathan Bidmead
Eliza Harfield
💍 1877/1369

Bachelor
Spinster

Sitter

23
22

Upper Kawarra
[illegible]

23 years
6 days

House of Mr. Milleston, Tobacconist, Lambton Quay, Wellington

77/1295

[illegible]

3 April 1877

Revd. C. S. Ogg

No	68
Date of Notice	5 April 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Bidmead	Eliza Warfield
BDM Match (96%)	Jonathan Bidmead	Eliza Harfield
	💍 1877/1369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sitter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Upper Kawarra	[illegible]
Length of Residence	23 years	6 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Milleston, Tobacconist, Lambton Quay, Wellington
Folio	77/1295
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	3 April 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. C. S. Ogg

6 April 1877

Leon Cohen
Catherine Asher

Leon Cohen
Catherine Asher
💍 1877/983

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier

26
17

Wellington
do

[illegible]
about 9 years

House of David Asher, Majoribanks Street, Wellington

77/1884

David Asher

6 April 1877

Revd. D. J. Isaacs

No	69
Date of Notice	6 April 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leon Cohen	Catherine Asher
	💍 1877/983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	[illegible]	about 9 years
Marriage Place	House of David Asher, Majoribanks Street, Wellington
Folio	77/1884
Consent	David Asher
Date of Certificate	6 April 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. D. J. Isaacs

9 April 1877

Hugh Loughlin
Mary Ann Green

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Dressmaker

28
23

Wellington
do

12 months
2 years

House of Mrs. I. Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington

[illegible]

9 April 1877

Revd. I. Paterson

No	70
Date of Notice	9 April 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Loughlin	Mary Ann Green
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Dressmaker
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. I. Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	[illegible]
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	9 April 1877
Officiating Minister	Revd. I. Paterson

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).