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 0359

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

20 February 1878

John Nuthman
Alice Pierce
formerly Grey

John Nuttman
Alice Pierce
💍 1878/354

Bachelor
Widow

Traveller

25
31

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Willis Street, Wellington

78/309

20 February 1878

Rev. J. J. Vallerton, Pres

No	55
Date of Notice	20 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Nuthman	Alice Pierce formerly Grey
BDM Match (69%)	John Nuttman	Alice Pierce
	💍 1878/354
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Traveller
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	78/309
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Vallerton, Pres

22 February 1878

John Hood
Elizabeth Bosher

John Rod
Elizabeth Bosher
💍 1878/3328

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
16

Do
Do

2 years
Do

Registrar's Office, Wellington

78/274

Thos Bosher, Father

22 February 1878

H. C. Wilmer, Registrar, Wellington

No	56
Date of Notice	22 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hood	Elizabeth Bosher
BDM Match (89%)	John Rod	Elizabeth Bosher
	💍 1878/3328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Do	Do
Length of Residence	2 years	Do
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	78/274
Consent	Thos Bosher, Father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1878
Officiating Minister	H. C. Wilmer, Registrar, Wellington

23 February 1878

Sydney Hobart Richardson
Maria Slaney Mellifont

Sydney Robert Richardson
Maria Grainger Millifont
💍 1878/3217

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
24

Wellington
Do

3 years
Do

St Pauls, Mulgrave St, Wellington

78/264

23 February 1878

Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

No	57
Date of Notice	23 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Hobart Richardson	Maria Slaney Mellifont
BDM Match (83%)	Sydney Robert Richardson	Maria Grainger Millifont
	💍 1878/3217
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	3 years	Do
Marriage Place	St Pauls, Mulgrave St, Wellington
Folio	78/264
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

25 February 1878

John Frederick Boyd
Zelitia Edwards

John Frederick Boyd
Letitia Edwards
💍 1878/346

Widower
Spinster

Tailor

58
31

Wellington
Do

22 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

78/278

25 February 1878

H. C. Wilmer, Registrar, Wellington

No	58
Date of Notice	25 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Boyd	Zelitia Edwards
BDM Match (93%)	John Frederick Boyd	Letitia Edwards
	💍 1878/346
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	58	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Do
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	78/278
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1878
Officiating Minister	H. C. Wilmer, Registrar, Wellington

25 February 1878

William Outtrim
Margaret Corbett

William Simon Outtrim
Margaret Corbett
💍 1878/341

William Simmons
Margaret Corbett
💍 1879/583

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

24
22

In Port - Wellington
Wellington

4 years
4 years

St Mary's Cathedral, Wellington

78/295

25 February 1878

Rev. J. P. M. Cumess, R.C.

No	59
Date of Notice	25 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Outtrim	Margaret Corbett
BDM Match (86%)	William Simon Outtrim	Margaret Corbett
	💍 1878/341
BDM Match (77%)	William Simmons	Margaret Corbett
	💍 1879/583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	In Port - Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	78/295
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. M. Cumess, R.C.

25 February 1878

Charles Howard
Maria Elizabeth Margaret Wilhelmina Duck

Charles Howard
Maria Elizabeth Wilhelmina Duck
💍 1878/323

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
24

Do
Wellington

25 years
8 years

St Marks, Adelaide Road, Wellington

78/253

25 February 1878

Rev. R. B. Coffey, CofE

No	60
Date of Notice	25 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Howard	Maria Elizabeth Margaret Wilhelmina Duck
BDM Match (89%)	Charles Howard	Maria Elizabeth Wilhelmina Duck
	💍 1878/323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Do	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Marks, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	78/253
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Coffey, CofE

27 February 1878

Henry Wood
Elizabeth Whytrow
formerly Bamford

Henry Wood
Elizabeth Whybrow
💍 1878/306

Bachelor
Widow

Joiner
Servant

35
31

Do
Do

29 years
9 months

House of Henry Wood, Courtenay Place

[illegible]

27 February 1878

Rev. J. Moir

No	61
Date of Notice	27 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wood	Elizabeth Whytrow formerly Bamford
BDM Match (73%)	Henry Wood	Elizabeth Whybrow
	💍 1878/306
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Joiner	Servant
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Do	Do
Length of Residence	29 years	9 months
Marriage Place	House of Henry Wood, Courtenay Place
Folio	[illegible]
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Moir

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).