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 303

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 1878

No	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
17	6 April 1878	Alexander Milne Jessie Blythe	Alexander Milne Jessie Blyth 💍 1878/1040	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 26	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 17 years	In private residence of Mr Blythe, Mary Bank, No.1 Line, Wanganui	78/1056		6 April 1878	Rev. Jas. Treadwell
18	9 April 1878	John Downer Mary Jane Pike	John Downes Mary Jane Pike 💍 1878/964	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	28 27	Wanganui Wanganui	3 years 7 years	In house in Glasgow, the property of D.A. Talley	78/982		9 April 1878	Rev. F. L. Tudor
19	13 April 1878	Geo. Wilson Jane Rapley	George Wilson Ormsbee Jane Rapley 💍 1878/965	Bachelor Widow	Clerk Hotel Keeper	37 39	Wanganui Wanganui	1 week 33 years	In the private residence of Mr. G. Nathan, Wanganui	78/983		13 April 1878	Rev. William Lee
20	15 April 1878	Patrick O'Connor Ellen Power	Patrick Carmody Ellen Power 💍 1878/973 James O'Dea Ellen Power 💍 1879/465	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	39 35	Wanganui Wanganui	10 months 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	78/990		13 April 1878	Rev. C. H. Kirk
21	15 April 1878	Samuel Elliott Louisa Purches	Samuel Elliot Louisa Purches 💍 1878/966	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 17	Wanganui Wanganui	1 week 4 years	In the private residence of Mr. Geo. Purches, Taupo Quay, Wanganui	78/987A	George Purches, father	15 April 1878	Rev. W. Lee
22	25 April 1878	John Henderson Emily Adams	John Henderson Emily Adam 💍 1878/967	Widower Widow	Brewer	43 40	Wanganui Wanganui	2.5 years 1.5 years	In the private residence of J. Henderson, Wilson Street, Wanganui	78/985		25 April 1878	Rev. W. Lee
23	6 May 1878	John Marally Catherine Dalton	John Manly Catherine Dalton 💍 1878/972	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	42 30	Wanganui Wanganui	15.5 years 4 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	78/989		6 May 1878	Rev. C. H. Kirk
24	10 May 1878	John Darley Jane Neale	John Davey Jane Neale 💍 1878/974	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	26 29	Wanganui Wanganui	7 days 7 days	In the Registrar's Office, Wanganui	78/991		10 May 1878	F. W. Woon
25	11 May 1878	William Atkins Catherine Nolan	William Atkinson Catherine Phelan 💍 1878/971 William Murray Paine Catherine Doyle 💍 1878/2261 William Henry Kitto Catherine Thomas 💍 1878/2706	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 21	Wanganui Wanganui	26 years 7 years	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	78/988		11 May 1878	Rev. C. H. Kirk
26	14 May 1878	William Morrison Annie Shorty	William Morrison Annie Grooby 💍 1878/975	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Wanganui Wanganui	7 weeks 3 weeks	In the Registrar's Office, Wanganui	78/992		14 May 1878	F. W. Woon
27	11 June 1878	William Smith Annie Barhs	William Smith Annie Burns 💍 1878/962	Bachelor Widow	Groom	26 28	Wanganui Wanganui	3 years 6 months	In the Presbyterian Hotel, Wanganui	78/980		11 June 1878	Rev. Jas. Treadwell

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).