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 316

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

138

06 July 1877

Isaac Sherwood Back
Mary Rodgers

Isaac Sherwood
Mary Rogers
💍 1877/1664

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner

30
20

Port-of Wellington
Wellington

18 days
18 days

Cathedral of St Mary's Hill Street

William Rodgers, Father

06 July [illegible]

Rev. T. McGuinness

No	138
Date of Notice	06 July 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Sherwood Back	Mary Rodgers
BDM Match (83%)	Isaac Sherwood	Mary Rogers
	💍 1877/1664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Port-of Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 days	18 days
Marriage Place	Cathedral of St Mary's Hill Street
Folio
Consent	William Rodgers, Father
Date of Certificate	06 July [illegible]
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McGuinness

139

07 July 1877

Frank R William Upton
Alice Butter

Frank William Upton
Alice Butler
💍 1877/1670

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
23

The Lower Hutt
The Upper Hutt

2 1/2 yrs
3 months

Church of St Peters Willis Street

77/1598

07 July [illegible]

The Archdeacon Stock

No	139
Date of Notice	07 July 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank R William Upton	Alice Butter
BDM Match (91%)	Frank William Upton	Alice Butler
	💍 1877/1670
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	The Lower Hutt	The Upper Hutt
Length of Residence	2 1/2 yrs	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of St Peters Willis Street
Folio	77/1598
Consent
Date of Certificate	07 July [illegible]
Officiating Minister	The Archdeacon Stock

140

09 July 1877

Thos Knowles
Emily Wilton

John Thwaites
Emily Wilton
💍 1877/2150

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

30
21

Wellington
do

16 months
21 yrs

Wesleyan Church Manners Street

77/214

09 July [illegible]

Rev. A Reed

No	140
Date of Notice	09 July 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thos Knowles	Emily Wilton
BDM Match (62%)	John Thwaites	Emily Wilton
	💍 1877/2150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	16 months	21 yrs
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Manners Street
Folio	77/214
Consent
Date of Certificate	09 July [illegible]
Officiating Minister	Rev. A Reed

141

09 July 1877

Herbert William Hame
Annie Maria Blow

Herbert William Hanu
Annie Maria Blow
💍 1877/1662

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

30
26

Wellington
do

1 week
4 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

77/613

09 July [illegible]

Registrar Wellington

No	141
Date of Notice	09 July 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Hame	Annie Maria Blow
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert William Hanu	Annie Maria Blow
	💍 1877/1662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	1 week	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	77/613
Consent
Date of Certificate	09 July [illegible]
Officiating Minister	Registrar Wellington

142

09 July 1877

Henry Bradnock Back
Sarah Jane Hockley

Henry Bradnock
Sarah Jane Hockley
💍 1877/1719

Bachelor
Spinster

Woodcarter

22
18

Karori
do

3 1/2 yrs
3 yrs

Church of England Karori

77/16

Richard Hockley, Father

09 July [illegible]

Rev. L. Watkins W. Ballachie

No	142
Date of Notice	09 July 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bradnock Back	Sarah Jane Hockley
BDM Match (87%)	Henry Bradnock	Sarah Jane Hockley
	💍 1877/1719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woodcarter
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Karori	do
Length of Residence	3 1/2 yrs	3 yrs
Marriage Place	Church of England Karori
Folio	77/16
Consent	Richard Hockley, Father
Date of Certificate	09 July [illegible]
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Watkins W. Ballachie

143

12 July 1877

Hugh Lachlan McFadyn
Mary Ann Neen

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Dressmaker

28
23

Wellington
do

8 months
2 yrs

House of Rev. J. Paterson The Terrace Wellington

12 July [illegible]

Rev. J. Paterson

No	143
Date of Notice	12 July 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Lachlan McFadyn	Mary Ann Neen
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Dressmaker
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	8 months	2 yrs
Marriage Place	House of Rev. J. Paterson The Terrace Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July [illegible]
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson

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).