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 324

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1877

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

185

11 September 1877

August Reinhold Hoffmeister
Karoline Fredericke Albertine Stern Spinis

August Reinhold Hoffmeister
Karoline Frederike Albertine Stern
💍 1877/2179

Bach

Carpenter

32
18

Wellington
Do

3 years
3 years

House of August Reinhold Hoffmeister, Martin Square

77/2145

no one Colony

11 September

Rev. C.S. [illegible]

No	185
Date of Notice	11 September 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	August Reinhold Hoffmeister	Karoline Fredericke Albertine Stern Spinis
BDM Match (91%)	August Reinhold Hoffmeister	Karoline Frederike Albertine Stern
	💍 1877/2179
Condition	Bach
Profession	Carpenter
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of August Reinhold Hoffmeister, Martin Square
Folio	77/2145
Consent	no one Colony
Date of Certificate	11 September
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.S. [illegible]

186

12 September 1877

Malcolm Gunn
Blenda Nash

Malcolm Gunn
Blenda Nash
💍 1877/1649

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

1 9/12 years
4 years

St. Peters Willis Street, Wellington

77/1607

12 September 1877

Rev. Archdeacon Stock C of E

No	186
Date of Notice	12 September 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Gunn	Blenda Nash
	💍 1877/1649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 9/12 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	77/1607
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Stock C of E

187

12 September 1877

Sydney Smith
Lerma Leyson Beuge

Sydney Smith
Levina Dyson Benge
💍 1877/2036

Bach
Spinster

Station Hand

26
22

Wellington
Do

1 week
22 years

St. James Church Lower Hutt

77/1991

12 September

Rev. Thos. Faucault

No	187
Date of Notice	12 September 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Smith	Lerma Leyson Beuge
BDM Match (83%)	Sydney Smith	Levina Dyson Benge
	💍 1877/2036
Condition	Bach	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	1 week	22 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church Lower Hutt
Folio	77/1991
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Faucault

188

13 September 1877

Edward Charles Eastabrook
Charlotte Jackson Spinis

Edward Charles Eastabrook
Charlotte Jackson
💍 1877/1667

Bach
Spinster

Letter Carrier

24
19

Wellington
Do

3 years
19 years

House of Thomas Jackson Wordsworth Street

77/1595

15 September

Rev. H.H. Bedstone

No	188
Date of Notice	13 September 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Eastabrook	Charlotte Jackson Spinis
BDM Match (85%)	Edward Charles Eastabrook	Charlotte Jackson
	💍 1877/1667
Condition	Bach	Spinster
Profession	Letter Carrier
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Thomas Jackson Wordsworth Street
Folio	77/1595
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 September
Officiating Minister	Rev. H.H. Bedstone

189

13 September 1877

Edward Henry Grant
Maria Baker

Edward Henry Grant
Maria Baker
💍 1877/100

Bach
Spinster

Clerk

24
26

Wellington
Do

3 1/2 years
26 years

St. Pauls Mulgrave Street

77/2411

13 September

Rev. B.W. Harvey

No	189
Date of Notice	13 September 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Grant	Maria Baker
	💍 1877/100
Condition	Bach	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Mulgrave Street
Folio	77/2411
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.W. Harvey

190

17 September 1877

Christian Larssen
Ingar Malmquist

Christian Larsson
Ingar Malingrist
💍 1877/1682

Bach
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

24
24

Wellington
Do

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office Wellington

77/1616

17 September

Registrar of Marriages Wellington

No	190
Date of Notice	17 September 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christian Larssen	Ingar Malmquist
BDM Match (85%)	Christian Larsson	Ingar Malingrist
	💍 1877/1682
Condition	Bach	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	77/1616
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 September
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Wellington

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).