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 841

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar John Robert Monson

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

10 January 1877

Alexander Findlator
Mary Ann Harrington

Alexander Findlater
Mary Ann Harrington
💍 1877/645

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Servant

30
21

Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Mount Street, Port Chalmers

10 days
4 days

At the Wesleyan Parsonage, Port Chalmers

77/559

10 January 1877

Rev. William Keall

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Findlator	Mary Ann Harrington
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Findlater	Mary Ann Harrington
	💍 1877/645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Servant
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Mount Street, Port Chalmers	Mount Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	10 days	4 days
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Parsonage, Port Chalmers
Folio	77/559
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Keall

19 January 1877

John Thomas
Sarah Ann Elizabeth Parnell

John Thomas
Sarah Ann Elizabeth Parnell
💍 1877/651

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Tailoress

28
21

Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers

6 weeks
4 weeks

At the Registrar's Office, Port Chalmers

77/565

19 January 1877

Jno R Monson Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas	Sarah Ann Elizabeth Parnell
	💍 1877/651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Tailoress
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers	Magnetic Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	At the Registrar's Office, Port Chalmers
Folio	77/565
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1877
Officiating Minister	Jno R Monson Registrar

8 February 1877

John Clyma
Margaret Miller Brown

John Clyma
Margaret Miller Brown
💍 1877/648

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

28
21

Provincial Hotel, George Street, Port Chalmers
Provincial Hotel, George Street, Port Chalmers

4 days
4 days

At the Church of England, Port Chalmers

77/562

8 February 1877

Rev. Lorenzo Moore M.A.

No	3
Date of Notice	8 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clyma	Margaret Miller Brown
	💍 1877/648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Provincial Hotel, George Street, Port Chalmers	Provincial Hotel, George Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	At the Church of England, Port Chalmers
Folio	77/562
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lorenzo Moore M.A.

8 February 1877

George Lucas
Elizabeth Rickard

George Lucas
Elizabeth Rickard
💍 1877/646

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

22
16

Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers
Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers

4 months
4 months

At the Wesleyan Parsonage, Port Chalmers

77/560

William Rickard, Father

8 February 1877

Rev. William Keall

No	4
Date of Notice	8 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lucas	Elizabeth Rickard
	💍 1877/646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers	Deborah Bay, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Parsonage, Port Chalmers
Folio	77/560
Consent	William Rickard, Father
Date of Certificate	8 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Keall

28 February 1877

George Sanderson
Marion Grant

George Landerson
Marion Grant
💍 1877/649

Widower
Spinster

Flour Miller

32
22

Meridian Street, Port Chalmers
Meridian Street, Port Chalmers

14 days
13 years

At the House of Mr G. Grant, Meridian Street, Port Chalmers

77/563

28 February 1877

Rev. James Maxwell

No	5
Date of Notice	28 February 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Sanderson	Marion Grant
BDM Match (97%)	George Landerson	Marion Grant
	💍 1877/649
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Flour Miller
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Meridian Street, Port Chalmers	Meridian Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	14 days	13 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr G. Grant, Meridian Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	77/563
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell

2 March 1877

James Smith
Mary Ann Falconer

James Smith
Mary Ann Falconer
💍 1877/647

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

29
20

Hulk Don Juan, Port Chalmers
Grey Street, Port Chalmers

2 months
10 days

At the House of Mr Scott, Grey Street, Port Chalmers

77/561

Parents dead

2 March 1877

Rev. William Keall

No	6
Date of Notice	2 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith	Mary Ann Falconer
	💍 1877/647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Hulk Don Juan, Port Chalmers	Grey Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 months	10 days
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr Scott, Grey Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	77/561
Consent	Parents dead
Date of Certificate	2 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Keall

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 1908. 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).