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 311

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar M. McWilmey

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

108

25 May 1877

Henry Charles Jones
Agnes Jane Smith

Henry Charles Jones
Agnes Jane Smith
💍 1877/949

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
2 years

St Peter's, Willis Street, Wellington

77/868

William Smith, father

25 May 1877

Rev. B. Avel Stoets

No	108
Date of Notice	25 May 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Jones	Agnes Jane Smith
	💍 1877/949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	77/868
Consent	William Smith, father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Avel Stoets

109

25 May 1877

Joseph Moncrieff
Andrew Greig Anderson

Joseph Moncrieff
Andrina Gregg Anderson
💍 1877/1375

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

21
24

Wellington
Wellington

1 month
1 month

House of Rev. Jas Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington

77/1301

26 May 1877

Rev. Jas Paterson

No	109
Date of Notice	25 May 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Moncrieff	Andrew Greig Anderson
BDM Match (91%)	Joseph Moncrieff	Andrina Gregg Anderson
	💍 1877/1375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Jas Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	77/1301
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas Paterson

110

25 May 1877

Robert Netley Redford
Jemima Maria Clark

Robert Netley Redford
Jemima Maria Clark
💍 1877/1306

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

24
18

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
do

House of Robert Everden, Argyle Street, Wellington

77/1256

Annie Clark, mother

25 May 1877

Rev. H. B. Redstone

No	110
Date of Notice	25 May 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Netley Redford	Jemima Maria Clark
	💍 1877/1306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	do
Marriage Place	House of Robert Everden, Argyle Street, Wellington
Folio	77/1256
Consent	Annie Clark, mother
Date of Certificate	25 May 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Redstone

111

28 May 1877

Charles Collis
the younger
Frances Coppard

Charles Collis Junior
Frances Coppard
💍 1877/953

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

36
24

Wainuiomata
Wainuiomata

20 years
12 months

House of Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington

77/871

28 May 1877

Rev. John Moir

No	111
Date of Notice	28 May 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Collis the younger	Frances Coppard
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Collis Junior	Frances Coppard
	💍 1877/953
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Wainuiomata	Wainuiomata
Length of Residence	20 years	12 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. John Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio	77/871
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

112

28 May 1877

George Hewitt
Ann Webb

George Hewitt
Annie Webb
💍 1877/979

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
do

36
30

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
12 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

77/880

28 May 1877

Registrar Wellington

No	112
Date of Notice	28 May 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hewitt	Ann Webb
BDM Match (90%)	George Hewitt	Annie Webb
	💍 1877/979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	do
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	77/880
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1877
Officiating Minister	Registrar Wellington

113

31 May 1877

William Harrison
Olive Barrow
formerly Mudgway

William Harrison
Olive Barrow
💍 1877/932

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Settler

50
49

Horokiwi Road [illegible]
Porirua

8 years
20 years

Wesleyan Church, Manners Street, Wellington

77/850

31 May 1877

Rev. Alex Reid Wes[leyan]

No	113
Date of Notice	31 May 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harrison	Olive Barrow formerly Mudgway
	💍 1877/932
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Settler
Age	50	49
Dwelling Place	Horokiwi Road [illegible]	Porirua
Length of Residence	8 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Manners Street, Wellington
Folio	77/850
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex Reid Wes[leyan]

114

4 June 1877

William Charles Clements
Jane Cook
formerly Jenkins

[No folio number; no matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Widow

Printer

24
26

Wellington
Wellington

18 months
26 yrs

House of Revd. John Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington

4 June 1877

Rev. John Moir Pres[byterian]

No	114
Date of Notice	4 June 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Clements	Jane Cook formerly Jenkins
BDM Match (8%)
	💍 [No folio number; no matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Printer
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	26 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Revd. John Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir Pres[byterian]

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 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).