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 369

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

101

15 April 1878

Richard Smith
Mary Jane Hellen

Richard Smith
Mary Jane Hellen
💍 1878/1051

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

27
16

Horokiri Valley
Pahautanui

18 years
14 months

House of Mrs Hellen

78/1046

Louisa Caroline Hellen, Mother

15 April 1878

Rev. J. B. Newth, CofE

No	101
Date of Notice	15 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Smith	Mary Jane Hellen
	💍 1878/1051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	27	16
Dwelling Place	Horokiri Valley	Pahautanui
Length of Residence	18 years	14 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Hellen
Folio	78/1046
Consent	Louisa Caroline Hellen, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Newth, CofE

102

17 April 1878

Henry Townsend Hauldey
Jane Elizabeth Mason

Henry Townsend
Jane Elizabeth Houldey
💍 1878/1073

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

25
17

Wellington
do

2 years
17 years

House of Robert Volhills, Tally, Wellington

78/1091

Robert Volhills, Colony

17 April 1878

Rev. Alex Reid, Pres

No	102
Date of Notice	17 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Townsend Hauldey	Jane Elizabeth Mason
BDM Match (66%)	Henry Townsend	Jane Elizabeth Houldey
	💍 1878/1073
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	25	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	2 years	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Robert Volhills, Tally, Wellington
Folio	78/1091
Consent	Robert Volhills, Colony
Date of Certificate	17 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex Reid, Pres

103

17 April 1878

Justinian John Powell
Jane Neil

Justiman John Powell
Jane Reid
💍 1878/1071

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

27
27

Wellington
do

12 months
4 years

Wesleyan Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington

78/1089

17 April 1878

Rev. Alex Reid, Pres

No	103
Date of Notice	17 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Justinian John Powell	Jane Neil
BDM Match (84%)	Justiman John Powell	Jane Reid
	💍 1878/1071
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	12 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Adelaide Road, Wellington
Folio	78/1089
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex Reid, Pres

104

17 April 1878

Jeremiah Sullivan
Mary Minogue

Jeremiah Sullivan
Mary Minogue
💍 1878/1021

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

25
23

Wellington
do

14 months
5 years

St Mary's of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington

78/1038

17 April 1878

Rev. P. Kerrigan, RC

No	104
Date of Notice	17 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Sullivan	Mary Minogue
	💍 1878/1021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	14 months	5 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1038
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Kerrigan, RC

105

18 April 1878

Arthur William Philpott Chapman
Agnes Walsh

Arthur William Phillpott Chapman
Agnes Welsh
💍 1878/1037

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer

22
22

Wellington
do

12 months
17 months

St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington

78/1053

18 April 1878

Rev. Archd. Stock, CofE

No	105
Date of Notice	18 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Philpott Chapman	Agnes Walsh
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur William Phillpott Chapman	Agnes Welsh
	💍 1878/1037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	12 months	17 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1053
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archd. Stock, CofE

106

24 April 1878

Isaac John Salmow
Ann Eliza Humphries

Isaac John Salmon
Ann Eliza Humphries
💍 1878/1067

Bachelor
Spinster

Woodturner

26
20

Wellington
do

14 years
20 years

St Paul's Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

78/1086

William Humphries, Father

24 April 1878

Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

No	106
Date of Notice	24 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac John Salmow	Ann Eliza Humphries
BDM Match (97%)	Isaac John Salmon	Ann Eliza Humphries
	💍 1878/1067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woodturner
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1086
Consent	William Humphries, Father
Date of Certificate	24 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey, 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).