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 302

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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

5 March 1877

William Naden
Rosetta Gray

William Haden Moxham
Rosetta Gray
💍 1877/283

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
21

Karori District
Wellington

16 years
3 1/2 years

Wesleyan Church

1/88

5 March 1877

Rev. Alex Reid

No	40
Date of Notice	5 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Naden	Rosetta Gray
BDM Match (80%)	William Haden Moxham	Rosetta Gray
	💍 1877/283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Karori District	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	1/88
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex Reid

5 March 1877

Charles John Hill
Blanche Blandford

Charles John Hill
Blanche Blandford
💍 1877/942

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

27
26

At present of Wellington
Wellington

7 months
6 months

St Paul's Mulgrave Street Wellington

1/86

5 March 1877

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	41
Date of Notice	5 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Hill	Blanche Blandford
	💍 1877/942
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	At present of Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St Paul's Mulgrave Street Wellington
Folio	1/86
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

5 March 1877

Frank Wills
Louisa Sanderson

Frank Wills
Louisa Sanderson
💍 1877/296

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
22

Wellington
do

24 years
7 years

St Mark's Adelaide Road Wellington

1/200

5 March 1877

Rev. R. Coffey

No	42
Date of Notice	5 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Wills	Louisa Sanderson
	💍 1877/296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	24 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Mark's Adelaide Road Wellington
Folio	1/200
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Coffey

6 March 1877

Aaron Collett
Eliza Jane Mason

Aaron Collett
Eliza Jane Mason
💍 1877/309

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

23
22

Wellington
do

23 years
22 years

St James's Church Lower Hutt

1/214

6 March 1877

Rev. Thos. Fancourt

No	43
Date of Notice	6 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aaron Collett	Eliza Jane Mason
	💍 1877/309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St James's Church Lower Hutt
Folio	1/214
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Fancourt

6 March 1877

George Henry Donaldson
Margaret Marshall Dick

George Henry Donaldson
Margaret Marshall Dick
💍 1877/286

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

24
18

Wellington
do

4 days
4 days

House of Mr. Fleming, Lambton Quay Colony

1/191

No one

6 March 1877

Rev. C. S. Ogg

No	44
Date of Notice	6 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Donaldson	Margaret Marshall Dick
	💍 1877/286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Fleming, Lambton Quay Colony
Folio	1/191
Consent	No one
Date of Certificate	6 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Ogg

7 March 1877

Lawrence Thomas Jameson
Elizabeth Ann Duncan

Lawrence Thomas Jamieson
Elizabeth Ann Duncan
💍 1877/349

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Servant

33
23

Wellington
do

5 days
5 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

1/230

7 March 1877

Registrar Wellington

No	45
Date of Notice	7 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Thomas Jameson	Elizabeth Ann Duncan
BDM Match (98%)	Lawrence Thomas Jamieson	Elizabeth Ann Duncan
	💍 1877/349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Servant
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	5 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	1/230
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Registrar Wellington

8 March 1877

Walter John Garwood
Emily Cole

Walter John Garwood
Emily Cole
💍 1877/291

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

27
18

Karori
do

2 months
18 years

Karori Church

1/196

Mary Ann Cole, Mother

8 March 1877

Rev. Wm. Ballachey

No	46
Date of Notice	8 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Garwood	Emily Cole
	💍 1877/291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Karori	do
Length of Residence	2 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Karori Church
Folio	1/196
Consent	Mary Ann Cole, Mother
Date of Certificate	8 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Ballachey

12 March 1877

James Donaldson
Mary Ann Nicoles

James Donaldson
Mary Ann Knowles
💍 1877/289

Widower
Spinster

Chief Laundryman
Housekeeper

46
40

Wellington
do

18 years
12 months

St Peter's Church Willis St. Wellington

1/194

12 March 1877

Venerable Arch. Stock

No	47
Date of Notice	12 March 1877
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Donaldson	Mary Ann Nicoles
BDM Match (88%)	James Donaldson	Mary Ann Knowles
	💍 1877/289
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Chief Laundryman	Housekeeper
Age	46	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	18 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church Willis St. Wellington
Folio	1/194
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1877
Officiating Minister	Venerable Arch. 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).