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 367

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 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

2 April 1878

John Sutherland
Annie Caroline Eades

John Sutherland
Annie Caroline Eades
💍 1878/3340

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Marker

25
26

Wellington
Wellington

25 years
2 years

Rev. L.J. Moir's House, Terrace, Wellington

[illegible]

2 April 1878

Rev. L. Moir, Wellington

No	88
Date of Notice	2 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sutherland	Annie Caroline Eades
	💍 1878/3340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Marker
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Rev. L.J. Moir's House, Terrace, Wellington
Folio	[illegible]
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Moir, Wellington

2 April 1878

William John Phair
Marietta McQuerien

William John Phair
Henrietta McAnerin
💍 1878/1020

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

25
20

Wellington
Wellington

11 months
9 months

The Wesleyan Church, Sydney Street, Wellington

[illegible]

2 April 1878

Rev. John Dumbell, Wellington

No	89
Date of Notice	2 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Phair	Marietta McQuerien
BDM Match (83%)	William John Phair	Henrietta McAnerin
	💍 1878/1020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 months	9 months
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church, Sydney Street, Wellington
Folio	[illegible]
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Dumbell, Wellington

3 April 1878

Henry Townsend
Elizabeth Jane Haulday

Henry Townsend
Jane Elizabeth Houldey
💍 1878/1073

Bachelor

Labourer

Wellington
Wellington

Cancelled see No. 102

No	90
Date of Notice	3 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Townsend	Elizabeth Jane Haulday
BDM Match (73%)	Henry Townsend	Jane Elizabeth Houldey
	💍 1878/1073
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Labourer
Age	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Cancelled see No. 102
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister

4 April 1878

Alfred Emanuel Hockey
Mary Anne Butler

Alfred Manuel Rockey
Mary Ann Cutler
💍 1878/1027

Bachelor

Law Clerk

23
19

Wellington
Wellington

15 1/2 years

The Registrar's Office, Wellington

[illegible]

Mary Ann Burgess, mother

5 April 1878

Registrar, Wellington

No	91
Date of Notice	4 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Emanuel Hockey	Mary Anne Butler
BDM Match (87%)	Alfred Manuel Rockey	Mary Ann Cutler
	💍 1878/1027
Condition	Bachelor
Profession	Law Clerk
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	[illegible]
Consent	Mary Ann Burgess, mother
Date of Certificate	5 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Wellington

8 April 1878

Samuel Laylor Roberts
Hannah Mitchell

Samuel Layton Roberts
Hannah Mitchell
💍 1878/1072

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

28
22

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
22 years

House of Mr George Roberts, Abel Smith Street, Wellington

78/1090

8 April 1878

Rev. Alex Read, Pres

No	92
Date of Notice	8 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Laylor Roberts	Hannah Mitchell
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Layton Roberts	Hannah Mitchell
	💍 1878/1072
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	22 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr George Roberts, Abel Smith Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1090
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex Read, Pres

8 April 1878

Edward Alexander Fisher
Ellen Costar

Edward Alexander Fisher
Ellen Coster
💍 1878/1068

Bachelor
Spinter Servant

Grocer

26
28

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
1 1/2 years

House of Rev. L. Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington

78/1069

8 April 1878

Rev. L. Moir, Pres

No	93
Date of Notice	8 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alexander Fisher	Ellen Costar
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Alexander Fisher	Ellen Coster
	💍 1878/1068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinter Servant
Profession	Grocer
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. L. Moir, Woolcombe Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1069
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Moir, Pres

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).