Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 081

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1870

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

8 January 1870

Angus McFill
Margaret Ann Gardiner

Angus McGill
Margaret Ann Gardiner
💍 1878/12

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
24

Previously at Mercury Bay, Auckland
Previously at Mercury Bay, Auckland

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

78/59

8 January 1870

John M Wayland, Regr

No	9
Date of Notice	8 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus McFill	Margaret Ann Gardiner
BDM Match (96%)	Angus McGill	Margaret Ann Gardiner
	💍 1878/12
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Previously at Mercury Bay, Auckland	Previously at Mercury Bay, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland
Folio	78/59
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1870
Officiating Minister	John M Wayland, Regr

8 January 1870

Ami Bennett
Susan Jane Fairburn

Ami Bennett
Susan Jane Fairburn
💍 1878/131

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer

25
21

Mount Eden Road
Symonds St, Auckland

9 months
21 years

St Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

78/83

8 January 1870

Revd B.T. Dudley, [illegible]

No	10
Date of Notice	8 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ami Bennett	Susan Jane Fairburn
	💍 1878/131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Mount Eden Road	Symonds St, Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	21 years
Marriage Place	St Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	78/83
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd B.T. Dudley, [illegible]

8 January 1870

Thomas Leaning
Johanna Cox

Thomas Leaning
Johanna Cox
💍 1878/139

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Servant

30
26

Victoria St, Auckland
Newton

23 years
16 years

Dwelling house of Mrs Conley, Newton

78/91

8 January 1870

Revd W Kirk, [illegible]

No	11
Date of Notice	8 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leaning	Johanna Cox
	💍 1878/139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Servant
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Victoria St, Auckland	Newton
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mrs Conley, Newton
Folio	78/91
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd W Kirk, [illegible]

10 January 1870

James Hull
Mary Ennis

James Hull
Mary Ennis
💍 1878/175

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

45
32

Usually at Tau-kapakapa, Auckland
Wyndham St, Auckland

2 weeks
3 days

St Matthew's Church, Auckland

78/103

10 January 1870

Revd R Burrows, [illegible]

No	12
Date of Notice	10 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hull	Mary Ennis
	💍 1878/175
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	45	32
Dwelling Place	Usually at Tau-kapakapa, Auckland	Wyndham St, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	78/103
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd R Burrows, [illegible]

14 January 1870

Edwin Claude Bolton
Florence Henrietta Catherine Higgins

Edwin Claude Bolton
Florence Henrietta Catherine Higgins
💍 1878/96

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster

26
17

Usually at Gisborne, Auckland
Usually at Mongonui, Auckland

1 month
1 month

The Church of England at Otahuhu

78/22

Henry Higgins, Father

14 January 1870

Revd. G Gould, [illegible]

No	13
Date of Notice	14 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Claude Bolton	Florence Henrietta Catherine Higgins
	💍 1878/96
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Usually at Gisborne, Auckland	Usually at Mongonui, Auckland
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Otahuhu
Folio	78/22
Consent	Henry Higgins, Father
Date of Certificate	14 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd. G Gould, [illegible]

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).