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 0383

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

181

2 July 1878

Edward Isakey Waters
Isabella M'Laren

Edward Jabez Waters
Isabella McLaren
💍 1878/1895

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Servant

23
23

Wellington
do

3 years
3 years

House of Edward Isakey Waters, Frederick Street, Wellington

78/1825

2 July 1878

Rev. L. C. Brady, Pres

No	181
Date of Notice	2 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Isakey Waters	Isabella M'Laren
BDM Match (87%)	Edward Jabez Waters	Isabella McLaren
	💍 1878/1895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Servant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Edward Isakey Waters, Frederick Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1825
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. C. Brady, Pres

182

3 July 1878

Herbert Hawkes
Lizzie Woods

Herbert Hawkes
Lizzie Wood
💍 1878/1831

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

23
19

Lower Hutt
do

3 years
13 months

House of Herbert Hawkes, The Tailor

78/1956

no one

3 July 1878

Rev. W. G. Thomas, [illegible]

No	182
Date of Notice	3 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hawkes	Lizzie Woods
BDM Match (96%)	Herbert Hawkes	Lizzie Wood
	💍 1878/1831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	do
Length of Residence	3 years	13 months
Marriage Place	House of Herbert Hawkes, The Tailor
Folio	78/1956
Consent	no one
Date of Certificate	3 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Thomas, [illegible]

183

3 July 1878

Gustave Kuchen
Rachel Ann Daly

Gustane Kutchen
Rachel Anne Daly
💍 1878/1853

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

20
19

Wellington
do

14 years
19 years

Church of S. Mary, Anna Maria Kuchen, the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington

78/1978

Owen Daly, Father

3 July 1878

Rev. P. Kerrigan, RC

No	183
Date of Notice	3 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustave Kuchen	Rachel Ann Daly
BDM Match (90%)	Gustane Kutchen	Rachel Anne Daly
	💍 1878/1853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	14 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of S. Mary, Anna Maria Kuchen, the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1978
Consent	Owen Daly, Father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Kerrigan, RC

184

3 July 1878

William Henry Whitmore
Eliza Stock

William Henry Whitmore Davies
Eliza Stock
💍 1878/1867

Widower
Spinster

Photographer

54
45

Wellington
do

11 years
do

St Pauls, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

78/1815

3 July 1878

Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

No	184
Date of Notice	3 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Whitmore	Eliza Stock
BDM Match (88%)	William Henry Whitmore Davies	Eliza Stock
	💍 1878/1867
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	54	45
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	11 years	do
Marriage Place	St Pauls, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1815
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey, CofE

185

3 July 1878

Alfred Falkner
Susannah Elizabeth Pallant

Alfred Falkner
Susannah Elizabeth Pallant
💍 1878/1822

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

24
22

Wellington
do

15 months
do

House of Mr W. F. Pallant, Turnbull Street, Wellington

78/1969

3 July 1878

Rev. H. Drumbell, [illegible]

No	185
Date of Notice	3 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Falkner	Susannah Elizabeth Pallant
	💍 1878/1822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	15 months	do
Marriage Place	House of Mr W. F. Pallant, Turnbull Street, Wellington
Folio	78/1969
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Drumbell, [illegible]

186

5 July 1878

William Augustus Durvett
Elizabeth Hewson

William Augustus Durnett
Elizabeth Hewison
💍 1878/2566

Bachelor
Spinster

Candlemaker
Servant

39
26

Wellington
do

2 years
3 years

House of Revd Jas Paterson, Wellington

78/2607

5 July 1878

Rev. J. Paterson, Pres

No	186
Date of Notice	5 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Augustus Durvett	Elizabeth Hewson
BDM Match (95%)	William Augustus Durnett	Elizabeth Hewison
	💍 1878/2566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Candlemaker	Servant
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Revd Jas Paterson, Wellington
Folio	78/2607
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Paterson, 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).