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 083

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

16 January 1870

George Vearts
Ellen Harvey

George Veart
Ellen Harvey
💍 1878/176

Widower
Spinster

Carter
Servant

31
22

Hepburn St, Auckland
Upper Queen Street, Auckland

4 yrs
22 yrs

St Matthews Church, Auckland

78/104

16 January 1870

Revd R Burrows, CofE

No	19
Date of Notice	16 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Vearts	Ellen Harvey
BDM Match (96%)	George Veart	Ellen Harvey
	💍 1878/176
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Servant
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hepburn St, Auckland	Upper Queen Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	4 yrs	22 yrs
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	78/104
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd R Burrows, CofE

16 January 1870

Harry Sherwood Trud-dock
Annie Hamer

Harry Sherwood Ruddock
Annie Hamer
💍 1878/97

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

32
26

Usually at Napier
Onehunga

3 days
26 yrs

Congregational Independent Chapel, Onehunga

78/20

16 January 1870

Revd S Hamer, Congl

No	20
Date of Notice	16 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Sherwood Trud-dock	Annie Hamer
BDM Match (94%)	Harry Sherwood Ruddock	Annie Hamer
	💍 1878/97
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Usually at Napier	Onehunga
Length of Residence	3 days	26 yrs
Marriage Place	Congregational Independent Chapel, Onehunga
Folio	78/20
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd S Hamer, Congl

16 January 1870

William Campbell O'Neill
Celia Eliza Sugar Shaw

William Campbell O'Neill
Celia Suza Shaw
💍 1878/5

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

32
21

Usually at Mongonui, Auckland
Wynyard St, Auckland

1 month
about 12 years

The dwelling house of O'Dwyer, Auckland

78/39

Father

16 January 1870

Revd J O Dwyer, R.C.

No	21
Date of Notice	16 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Campbell O'Neill	Celia Eliza Sugar Shaw
BDM Match (82%)	William Campbell O'Neill	Celia Suza Shaw
	💍 1878/5
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Usually at Mongonui, Auckland	Wynyard St, Auckland
Length of Residence	1 month	about 12 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of O'Dwyer, Auckland
Folio	78/39
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd J O Dwyer, R.C.

17 January 1870

Oswald Waldemar Schulze
Emily Clinch

Oswald Waldemar Schulze
Emily Clinch
💍 1878/222

Bachelor
Spinster

Master Mariner
Servant

31
21

Auckland
Ponsonby Rd, Auckland

6 yrs
9 yrs

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

78/51

17 January 1870

John M Wayland, Regr

No	22
Date of Notice	17 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Waldemar Schulze	Emily Clinch
	💍 1878/222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Servant
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Ponsonby Rd, Auckland
Length of Residence	6 yrs	9 yrs
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland
Folio	78/51
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1870
Officiating Minister	John M Wayland, Regr

17 January 1870

John Edward Brown
Sarah Back

John Edward Brown
Sarah Boch
💍 1878/132

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

33
23

Symonds St, Auckland
Albert St, Auckland

2 months
1 year

St Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

78/44

17 January 1870

Revd B T Dudley, CofE

No	23
Date of Notice	17 January 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Brown	Sarah Back
BDM Match (90%)	John Edward Brown	Sarah Boch
	💍 1878/132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Symonds St, Auckland	Albert St, Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	1 year
Marriage Place	St Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	78/44
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1870
Officiating Minister	Revd B T Dudley, CofE

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).