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 355

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

30 January 1878

William Henry Russell
Sarah Mary Edwards

William Henry Russel
Sarah Mary Edwards
💍 1878/334

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

27
26

Wellington
do

5 years
3 years

House of W H Russell, Nelson Street

78/289

30 January 1878

Rev.d C. S. Ogg, Pres

No	30
Date of Notice	30 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Russell	Sarah Mary Edwards
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Russel	Sarah Mary Edwards
	💍 1878/334
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of W H Russell, Nelson Street
Folio	78/289
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d C. S. Ogg, Pres

2 February 1878

Joseph Hibberd
Eliza Chegwidden

Joseph Hebbens
Eliza Chegwidden
💍 1878/292

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

22
24

do
do

2 years
2 years

St Pauls Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

78/244

2 February 1878

Rev.d B. W. Harvey, CofE

No	31
Date of Notice	2 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hibberd	Eliza Chegwidden
BDM Match (89%)	Joseph Hebbens	Eliza Chegwidden
	💍 1878/292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	78/244
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d B. W. Harvey, CofE

2 February 1878

John Frederick Rayner
Clara Hughes

John Frederick Rayner
Clara Hughes
💍 1878/330

Bachelor
Spinster

Light-Keeper

24
26

Tharice
do

2 weeks
13 years

Church of England, Tharice

78/285

2 February 1878

Rev.d J.A. Newth, CofE

No	32
Date of Notice	2 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Rayner	Clara Hughes
	💍 1878/330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Light-Keeper
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Tharice	do
Length of Residence	2 weeks	13 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tharice
Folio	78/285
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d J.A. Newth, CofE

2 February 1878

Alexander Hellier McDade
Margaret McDade

Alexander Hattie
Margaret McDade
💍 1878/338

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer of Gaol

28
26

Wellington
do

10 months
4 years

Roman Catholic Cathedral, Hill Street

78/293

2 February 1878

Rev.d P. McGuiness, RC

No	33
Date of Notice	2 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Hellier McDade	Margaret McDade
BDM Match (73%)	Alexander Hattie	Margaret McDade
	💍 1878/338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer of Gaol
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	10 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Cathedral, Hill Street
Folio	78/293
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d P. McGuiness, RC

4 February 1878

John Smith
Elizabeth Kennant

John Smith
Elizabeth Remnant
💍 1878/319

John Smith
Rose Quinn
💍 1878/2754

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

25
19

do
do

4 years
19 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

78/272

Danl Drake, Guardian

4 February 1878

C. H. Spooner, Dep. Registrar, Wellington

No	34
Date of Notice	4 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Elizabeth Kennant
BDM Match (94%)	John Smith	Elizabeth Remnant
	💍 1878/319
BDM Match (62%)	John Smith	Rose Quinn
	💍 1878/2754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	78/272
Consent	Danl Drake, Guardian
Date of Certificate	4 February 1878
Officiating Minister	C. H. Spooner, Dep. Registrar, Wellington

4 February 1878

Charles Anthony Garrick
Julia Garrick

Charles Anthony
Julia Garrick
💍 1878/320

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

32
21

do
do

7 days
14 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

78/273

4 February 1878

C.H. Spooner, Dep. Registrar, Wellington

No	35
Date of Notice	4 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Anthony Garrick	Julia Garrick
BDM Match (83%)	Charles Anthony	Julia Garrick
	💍 1878/320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	7 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	78/273
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1878
Officiating Minister	C.H. Spooner, Dep. Registrar, Wellington

5 February 1878

William Callister James
Lillias Melicent Holmes

William Pattison James
Lillias Millicent Holmes
💍 1878/283

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk C.S.

24
20

do
do

5 days
20 years

St Peter's Church, Willis Street

78/236

W. Anward Holmes, Father

5 February 1878

Rev. Archd. Stock, CofE

No	36
Date of Notice	5 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Callister James	Lillias Melicent Holmes
BDM Match (83%)	William Pattison James	Lillias Millicent Holmes
	💍 1878/283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk C.S.
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	5 days	20 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Willis Street
Folio	78/236
Consent	W. Anward Holmes, Father
Date of Certificate	5 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archd. 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).