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 0087

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1878

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

30 January 1878

James Whiston
Frances Bradley

James Whiston
Frances Bradley
💍 1878/227

Bachelor
Widow

Shoemaker

36
27

Usually at Mercury Bay, Auckland
Newton

2 weeks
17 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

78/56

30 January 1878

John M Wayland, Regr.

No	39
Date of Notice	30 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Whiston	Frances Bradley
	💍 1878/227
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shoemaker
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Usually at Mercury Bay, Auckland	Newton
Length of Residence	2 weeks	17 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland
Folio	78/56
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1878
Officiating Minister	John M Wayland, Regr.

31 January 1878

Richard Lang
Sarah Ann Thurston

Richard Lang
Sarah Ann Thurston
💍 1878/228

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

22
17

Waiheke
Abercrombie Street, Auckland

12 years
17 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

78/57

James Thurston, Father

31 January 1878

John M Wayland, Regr.

No	40
Date of Notice	31 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Lang	Sarah Ann Thurston
	💍 1878/228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Waiheke	Abercrombie Street, Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland
Folio	78/57
Consent	James Thurston, Father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1878
Officiating Minister	John M Wayland, Regr.

23 January 1878

Denis McCarthy
Kate Heartneady

Denis McCarthy
Catherine Harnedy
💍 1878/113

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland

78/40

30 January 1878

Revd. W McDonald, RC

No	41
Date of Notice	23 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis McCarthy	Kate Heartneady
BDM Match (74%)	Denis McCarthy	Catherine Harnedy
	💍 1878/113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland
Folio	78/40
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. W McDonald, RC

31 January 1878

Michael Higgins
Mary Ann Cain

Michael Higgins
Mary Ann Cain
💍 2003/20808

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Dressmaker

24
21

Victoria St, Auckland
Newton

17 years
6 years

St Francis de Sales' Catholic Church, Auckland

[illegible]

31 January 1878

Revd. H J Fynes, RC

No	42
Date of Notice	31 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Higgins	Mary Ann Cain
	💍 2003/20808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Dressmaker
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Victoria St, Auckland	Newton
Length of Residence	17 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Francis de Sales' Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio	[illegible]
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. H J Fynes, RC

1 February 1878

Thomas Hill
Margaret Scallen

Thomas Hill
Margaret Elizabeth Scallen
💍 1878/146

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

20
21

Papakura Valley, Auckland
Papakura Valley, Auckland

4 years
3 years

Church of England Church called Christ Church, Papakura Valley

78/77

1 February 1878

Revd. R R Hall, CofE

No	43
Date of Notice	1 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hill	Margaret Scallen
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Hill	Margaret Elizabeth Scallen
	💍 1878/146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Papakura Valley, Auckland	Papakura Valley, Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Church called Christ Church, Papakura Valley
Folio	78/77
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. R R Hall, 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).