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 353

District of Wellington 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

21 January 1878

John Scott
Jane Fyfe Mill

John Scott
Jane Pye Nill
💍 1878/333

John Scott
Sarah Anne Dobbs
💍 1878/3189

John Scott
Ruth Carroll
💍 1878/743

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 years
2 years

House of W. Mill, Johnsonville Road, Wellington

78/1288

21 January 1878

Rev. C. S. Ogg, Pres

No	16
Date of Notice	21 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Scott	Jane Fyfe Mill
BDM Match (89%)	John Scott	Jane Pye Nill
	💍 1878/333
BDM Match (63%)	John Scott	Sarah Anne Dobbs
	💍 1878/3189
BDM Match (61%)	John Scott	Ruth Carroll
	💍 1878/743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of W. Mill, Johnsonville Road, Wellington
Folio	78/1288
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. S. Ogg, Pres

23 January 1878

Augustus Emanuel Stirling
Mary Agnes Munday

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Servant

26
21

Port Wellington
Wellington

1 year
2 weeks

Registration Office, Wellington

78/1289

23 January 1878

H. C. Wilmer, Registrar, Wellington

No	17
Date of Notice	23 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Emanuel Stirling	Mary Agnes Munday
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Servant
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Port Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registration Office, Wellington
Folio	78/1289
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1878
Officiating Minister	H. C. Wilmer, Registrar, Wellington

24 January 1878

Luke Connor
Catherine Goally

Luke Connor
Catherine Goally
💍 1878/337

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
18 months

St Mary's Cathedral, Hill Street, Wellington

78/1292

24 January 1878

Rev. J. J. P. O'Reily, CofE

No	18
Date of Notice	24 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Luke Connor	Catherine Goally
	💍 1878/337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Cathedral, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1292
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. P. O'Reily, CofE

25 January 1878

William Hider
Matilda Hanson
formerly Mihill

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

24
32

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
9 months

St Mark's Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington

78/1232

25 January 1878

Rev. J. S. Leighton, CofE

No	19
Date of Notice	25 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hider	Matilda Hanson formerly Mihill
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	78/1232
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Leighton, CofE

25 January 1878

William Douglas
Margaret Halcombe

William Douglas
Margaret Halcombe
💍 1878/317

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

44
42

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
18 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

78/1240

25 January 1878

Registrar, Wellington

No	20
Date of Notice	25 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Douglas	Margaret Halcombe
	💍 1878/317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	44	42
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	78/1240
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Wellington

25 January 1878

Maurice Kelliher
Mary Shanahan

Maurice Kelleher
Mary Shannahan
💍 1878/357

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

25
21

Wellington
Wellington

2.5 years
1.5 years

Church of St Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St, Wellington

78/1312

25 January 1878

Rev. R. Caffrey, CofE

No	21
Date of Notice	25 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Kelliher	Mary Shanahan
BDM Match (93%)	Maurice Kelleher	Mary Shannahan
	💍 1878/357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2.5 years	1.5 years
Marriage Place	Church of St Mary of the Angels, Boulcott St, Wellington
Folio	78/1312
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Caffrey, CofE

26 January 1878

Howard Huke
Harriet Davey

Edward Rule
Harriett Davey
💍 1878/280

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Servant

21
19

Wellington
Wellington

2 months
2 months

St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

78/1233

No one in Colony

26 January 1878

Rev. Archdeacon Stock, CofE

No	22
Date of Notice	26 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard Huke	Harriet Davey
BDM Match (78%)	Edward Rule	Harriett Davey
	💍 1878/280
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Servant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1233
Consent	No one in Colony
Date of Certificate	26 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Stock, 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 1908. 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).