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 307

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 2 May 1879

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
48	1 October 1878	Mr H. Chitham Emma Nelson		Bachelor Spinster
49	9 October 1878	Alex Howie Ellen Hook	Alexander Howie Ellen Hook 💍 1878/2528	Bachelor Spinster						78/2568	9 October 1878	Jas. Treadwell
50	18 October 1878	Mr C. Staite Alice E. Stevens		Bachelor Spinster						78/2569	18 October 1878	Jas. Treadwell
51	21 October 1878	Richd. Scannell Mary Keane	Richard Scammell Mary Keane 💍 1878/2529 Anthony Kane Mary Keane 💍 1878/633	Bachelor Spinster						78/2570	21 October 1878	C. H. Kirk
52	22 October 1878	Edward Chamberlain Kirby [illegible]		Bachelor Spinster						78/2573	22 October 1878	C.H. Kirk
53	31 October 1878	Geo. Fred. Walker Emily M. Richardson	George Frederick Walker Emily Mary Richardson 💍 1878/2539	Bachelor Spinster						78/2568	31 October 1878	S. L. Tudor
54	7 November 1878	Geo. P. Kitchen Mary S. Tingey	George Pemberton Kitchen Mary Sophia Tingey 💍 1878/2562	Bachelor Spinster						78/2579	7 November 1878	Wm Lee
55	18 November 1878	Jesse Moore Annie H. Gifford		Bachelor Spinster						78/2584	18 November 1878	James Treadwell
57	26 November 1878	A. W. J. Wyld Annie E. Hughes		Bachelor Spinster						78/2548	26 November 1878	Wm Lee
58	29 November 1878	Francis Brady Emily Adams	Francis Brady Emily Adam 💍 1878/2563	Bachelor Spinster						78/2549	29 November 1878	Wm Lee
59	6 December 1878	L. H. Coulson Elisabeth Daley	Laurence Henry Conlon Elizabeth Daley 💍 1878/2531	Widower Widow		39 41			R.C. Catholic Church, Wanganui	78/2541	6 December 1878	C. H. Kirk
60	9 December 1878	James Allcock Agnes Nicholson	James Allcock Agnes Nicholson 💍 1878/2541	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	31 21	Wanganui Wanganui	2 days 3 [illegible]	In the residence of Mr F. Allcock, Wanganui	78/2582	9 December 1878	Wm Lee
61	12 December 1878	George Westrupp Mary A. Willis	George Westrup Mary Ann Wise 💍 1878/2557 George Morris Mary Ann Wilson 💍 1878/3117	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 21	Wanganui Wanganui	4 [illegible] 4 [illegible]	In the Church of England, Wanganui	78/2574	12 December 1878	T. L. Tudor
62	23 December 1878	George Read Amelia Freeman	George Read Amelia Freeman 💍 1878/2543	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 23	Wanganui Wanganui	9 months 7 weeks	In the residence of Mr Freeman, Wanganui	78/2586	23 December 1878	Wm Lee
63	23 December 1878	F. Mc[illegible] Williams M. M. Williams		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 23	Wanganui Wanganui	2 weeks 6 [illegible]	In the residence of Mr P. Mc[illegible] Williams, Wanganui	78/2587	23 December 1878	Jas. Treadwell
64	23 December 1878	Geo. Bartlett Sarah Buggins	George Bartlett Sarah Beguine 💍 1878/2540	Bachelor Spinster	Fitter	29 21	Wanganui Wanganui	12 [illegible] 4 weeks	In the residence of Mr Openshaw, Wanganui	78/2581	23 December 1878	Wm Lee
	2 November 1879	Edward Kirby	1879 In reply to yours of 29th April I beg to say that the age given to me by Edward Kirby and registered by me is 35 years and I am pretty sure if you could see the good man your would easily believe that he is that age									Charles H Kirk

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).