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 309

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 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
48	1 October 1878	H. H. Chitham Emma Nelson		Bachelor Spinster	Hairdresser	25 23	Wanganui Wanganui	18 months 18 months	Episcopalian Church, Wanganui			1 October 1878	T. L. Tudor
49	9 October 1878	Alex. Howie Ellen Hook	Alexander Howie Ellen Hook 💍 1878/2528	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	In the private residence of Miss A. S. Hook, Wanganui	78/2568		9 October 1878	Jas. Treadwell
50	18 October 1878	Wm C. Staite Alice E. Street		Bachelor Spinster	Painter	27 18	Wanganui Wanganui	4 months 3 months	In the private residence of John Batts, Wanganui	78/2568	Father	18 October 1878	Jas. Treadwell
51	21 October 1878	Richd Joannell Mary Keane	Richard Scammell Mary Keane 💍 1878/2529 Anthony Kane Mary Keane 💍 1878/633	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	23 24	Wanganui Wanganui	5 days 5 days	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	78/2569		21 October 1878
52	22 October 1878	Edward Kirby Susannah Chamtaloup	Edward Kirby Susannah Chamberlain 💍 1878/2530	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	25 20	Wanganui Wanganui	7 months 7 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	78/2569		22 October 1878
53	31 October 1878	Geo. Fred. Walker Emily M. Richardson	George Frederick Walker Emily Mary Richardson 💍 1878/2539	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 18	Aramoho Aramoho	22 years 12 months	Church of St Mary, Aramoho		Mother	31 October 1878	T. L. Tudor
54	9 November 1878	Geo. P. Kitchen Mary Tingey		Bachelor Spinster	Saddler	23 23	Wanganui Wanganui	18 months 18 months	In the residence of Mrs Tingey, Wanganui	78/2579		9 November 1878	Wm Lee
55	16 November 1878	Jacob Moore Annie H. Efford	Jacob Honore Annie Huntley Liffiton 💍 1878/2546	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher Teacher	23 28	Wanganui Wanganui	14 days 8 days	In the residence of Mr C. H. Ashforth, Wanganui	78/2584	Friend	16 November 1878	James Treadwell
56	22 November 1878	William Speedy M. H. T. Campbell	William Speedy Matilda Helena Horne Comford 💍 1878/2550	Widower Spinster	Farmer	46 29	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 10 days	In the Episcopalian Church, Wanganui	78/2573		22 November 1878	T. L. Tudor
57	26 November 1878	A. W. P. Wythodrel Jane E. Tingey		Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	25 21	Wanganui Wanganui	3 years 3 years	In the residence of R. Hughes, Wanganui	78/2578		26 November 1878	Wm Lee
58	29 November 1878	Francis Yorke Emily Adams	Francis Brady Emily Adam 💍 1878/2563	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	21 20	Wanganui Wanganui	20 years 20 years	In the residence of Emily Adams, Wanganui	78/2578	Mother	29 November 1878	Wm Lee
59	6 December 1878	C. H. Gordon Elizabeth Daley	Laurence Henry Conlon Elizabeth Daley 💍 1878/2531	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	42 39	Wanganui Wanganui	1 year 3 days	In the R. Catholic Church, Wanganui	78/2571		6 December 1878	C. H. Kirk
60	9 December 1878	James Allcock Agnes Nicholson	James Allcock Agnes Nicholson 💍 1878/2541	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	31 24	Utiku, Rangitikei Utiku, Rangitikei	3 years 3 years	In the residence of J. Allcock, Utiku, Rangitikei	78/2582		9 December 1878	Wm Lee
61	12 December 1878	George Westrupp Mary A. Wise	George Westrup Mary Ann Wise 💍 1878/2557	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	22 21	Wanganui Wanganui	1 week 1 week	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	27 17	Wanganui Wanganui	4 months 4 months	In the residence of N. Freeman, Wanganui	78/2584	Father	23 December 1878	Wm Lee
63	23 December 1878	T. J. McTavish H. M. Williamson		Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 23	Wanganui Wanganui	7 weeks 7 weeks	In the residence of J. Hurley, Wanganui	78/2586		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	4 weeks 4 weeks	In the residence of Mrs. Orchard, Wanganui	78/2581		23 December 1878	Wm Lee

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).