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 555

District of Kumara Quarter ending 31 December 1877 Registrar Paul. a. 7. Birch

No	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
15	08 October 1877	John Hamilton Elizth Martin	John Hamilton Elizabeth Martin 💍 1877/3036	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Servant	30 29	Dillman's Kumara	13 mos 6 mos	at Registrar's Office Kumara	77/3049		08 October 1877	P.A.7. Birch Registrar Kumara
16	19 October 1877	Walter Hodges Catherine Mary Duncan	Walter Hodges Catherine Mary Duncan 💍 1877/3037	Widower Widow	Saddler	29 27	Kumara Kumara	3 mos 12 mos	at Registrar's Office Kumara	77/3046		19 October 1877	P.A.7. Birch Registrar Kumara
17	19 November 1877	John Sambell Pearn Bridget Leism	John S Pearn Bridget Quinn 💍 1877/2548	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper Barmaid	33 24	Kumara Kumara	15 mos 9 mos	at Bridegroom's Residence Kumara	77/2557		19 November 1877	Rev. M. M. & Cauphey Kumara
18	21 November 1877	Walter Ernest Wentes Matilda Harriet Harris	Arthur Ernest Winter Matilda Harriet Harris 💍 1877/3039	Bachelor Spinster	Printer none	23 21	Dillman's Kumara	10 mos 3 days	at office of Registrar Kumara	77/3048		21 November 1877	P.A.7. Birch Registrar Kumara
19	23 November 1877	John Gorstidge Ellen Blaell	John Gorstidge Ellen Black 💍 1877/3040	Widower Widow	Dealer Nurse	24 45	Kumara Kumara	12 mos 3 mos	at office of Registrar Kumara	77/3049		23 November 1877	P.A.7. Birch Registrar Kumara
20	19 December 1877	Chas. Wm. Fowler Mary Jane Foad	Charles William Fowler Mary Jane Goad 💍 1877/2546	Bachelor Spinster	Miner none	25 18	Dunedin Flat Dillmanstown	6 mos 3 mos	at Bride's residence Dillman's	77/2540	Joseph Foad, Father	19 December 1877	Rev. W. S. Harper Kumara
21	22 December 1877	Chas. Pearrio Jane Peters	Charles Harris Jane Peters 💍 1877/3041	Bachelor Spinster	Miner none	41 31	Dillmanstown Do	16 mos 3 mos	at office of Registrar Kumara	77/3080		22 December 1877	P.A.7. Birch Registrar Kumara
22	29 December 1877	Wm. Barnett Emma Hope Buslow	William Barnett Emma Hope Onslow 💍 1877/2547	Bachelor Widow	Dentist Servant	23 25	Kumara Kumara	9 mos 7 days	at Residence of Bridegroom Kumara	77/2550		29 December 1877	Rev. W. S. Harper
23	31 December 1877	Eli Whiteley Sarah Gracefake	Eli Whiteley Sarah Grace Lake 💍 1878/464	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk none	34 21	Kumara Kumara	3 days Do	at office of Registrar Kumara	78/421		31 December 1877	P.A.7. Birch Registrar Kumara

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 1899. 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).