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 320

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

161

August 8th 1877

Walter Donnelly
Ann McCafferty

Walter Donnelly
Anne McCafferty
💍 1877/2060

Bachelor
Spinster

Naval Architect
Engineer

22
17

Wellington
Do

14 months
17 years

St Mary's of the Angels, Boulcott Street

77/2024

Patrick McCafferty, father

8th August

Rev. M. J. Kearney

No	161
Date of Notice	August 8th 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Donnelly	Ann McCafferty
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Donnelly	Anne McCafferty
	💍 1877/2060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Naval Architect	Engineer
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	14 months	17 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels, Boulcott Street
Folio	77/2024
Consent	Patrick McCafferty, father
Date of Certificate	8th August
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Kearney

162

August 8th 1877

John Sidney Jones
Ann Death

John Sidney Jones
Annie Death
💍 1877/1725

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
[illegible]

23
17

Pakauraui
Do

23 years
3 years

House of the Rev. J. Paterson

77/1681

Robert Death, father

8th August

Rev. J. Paterson

No	162
Date of Notice	August 8th 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sidney Jones	Ann Death
BDM Match (91%)	John Sidney Jones	Annie Death
	💍 1877/1725
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	[illegible]
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Pakauraui	Do
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of the Rev. J. Paterson
Folio	77/1681
Consent	Robert Death, father
Date of Certificate	8th August
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

163

August 8th 1877

Hugh Trayner
Charlotte Lee

Hugh Trayner
Charlotte Lee
💍 1877/2178

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Servant

28
22

Wellington
Do

5 years
2 years

House of the Rev. C. Hogg, Manners Street

77/2144

[illegible]

23rd August

Rev. C. Hogg

No	163
Date of Notice	August 8th 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Trayner	Charlotte Lee
	💍 1877/2178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Servant
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of the Rev. C. Hogg, Manners Street
Folio	77/2144
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	23rd August
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Hogg

164

August 9th 1877

Charles McKersell
Mary Matilda Swain

Charles Inkersell
Mary Matilda Swairo
💍 1877/1658

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Servant

27
21

Wellington
Do

27 years
3 years

House of Albert Martin, Tory Street, Wellington

77/1609

[illegible]

9th August

Rev. John Muskaf

No	164
Date of Notice	August 9th 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles McKersell	Mary Matilda Swain
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Inkersell	Mary Matilda Swairo
	💍 1877/1658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Servant
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	27 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Albert Martin, Tory Street, Wellington
Folio	77/1609
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	9th August
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Muskaf

165

August 13th 1877

Ambrose Wheeler
Sarah Annie Gladstone

Ambrose Wheeler
Sarah Annie Gladstone
💍 1877/2123

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
[illegible]

35
34

of Auckland but at 5 days present-residing in
Wellington

[illegible]
6 months

House of Mrs Wright-Repletea, Molesworth Street, Wellington

77/2089

[illegible]

13th August

Rev. W. H. West

No	165
Date of Notice	August 13th 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ambrose Wheeler	Sarah Annie Gladstone
	💍 1877/2123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	[illegible]
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	of Auckland but at 5 days present-residing in	Wellington
Length of Residence	[illegible]	6 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Wright-Repletea, Molesworth Street, Wellington
Folio	77/2089
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	13th August
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. West

166

August 13th 1877

Arthur Winton Mann
Mary Eliza Junell

Arthur Winton Brown
Mary Eliza Lewis Linnell
💍 1877/1648

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
[illegible]

20
18

Wellington
Do

12 years
18 years

St Peters, Willis Street, Wellington

[illegible]

Arthur Brown, father; J. Junell, father

17th August

The Archdeacon Stock

No	166
Date of Notice	August 13th 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Winton Mann	Mary Eliza Junell
BDM Match (71%)	Arthur Winton Brown	Mary Eliza Lewis Linnell
	💍 1877/1648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	[illegible]
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	12 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Peters, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	[illegible]
Consent	Arthur Brown, father; J. Junell, father
Date of Certificate	17th August
Officiating Minister	The Archdeacon Stock

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).