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 0399

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 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

271

1 October 1878

William Alder
Martha Waters

William Alder Charlton
Martha Waters
💍 1878/2629

William Coker
Mary Waters
💍 1878/398

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

27
27

Wellington
do

2 years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Manners Street, Wellington

78/2660

1 October 1878

Revd Alex Reid

No	271
Date of Notice	1 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alder	Martha Waters
BDM Match (80%)	William Alder Charlton	Martha Waters
	💍 1878/2629
BDM Match (77%)	William Coker	Mary Waters
	💍 1878/398
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Manners Street, Wellington
Folio	78/2660
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Alex Reid

272

2 October 1878

Alexander Wilson
Jeannie Elleson Smith

Alexander Wilson
Jeannie Ellison Smith
💍 1878/2660

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent

34
22

Wellington
do

3 days
2 months

House of Revd H B Redstone, Ghuznee Street, Wellington

78/2649

2 October 1878

Revd H B Redstone

No	272
Date of Notice	2 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wilson	Jeannie Elleson Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander Wilson	Jeannie Ellison Smith
	💍 1878/2660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	House of Revd H B Redstone, Ghuznee Street, Wellington
Folio	78/2649
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd H B Redstone

273

3 October 1878

Edward Jones
Agnew Stevenson Alice Chapman Ketter

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

34
30

Wellington
do

3 years
3 years

St Pauls, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

78/2633

3 October 1878

Revd B W Harvey

No	273
Date of Notice	3 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Jones	Agnew Stevenson Alice Chapman Ketter
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	78/2633
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd B W Harvey

274

3 October 1878

John Henry Otto Schwartz
Sibilla Marion Holman

John Henry Otto Schwartz
Sybilla Marion Holman
💍 1878/2661

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary, Building Soc.

29
26

Wellington
do

3 years
4 months

House of Mr Cazenear, Taranaki St, Wellington

78/2648

4 October 1878

Revd H B Redstone

No	274
Date of Notice	3 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Otto Schwartz	Sibilla Marion Holman
BDM Match (98%)	John Henry Otto Schwartz	Sybilla Marion Holman
	💍 1878/2661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary, Building Soc.
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 years	4 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr Cazenear, Taranaki St, Wellington
Folio	78/2648
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd H B Redstone

275

7 October 1878

Alfred Hampton
Harriet Ellen Hampton

Alfred Hampton
Harriett Ellen Hampton
💍 1878/2595

Bachelor
Spinster

Draughtsman

26
26

Wellington
do

4 days
4 days

St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington

78/2636

7 October 1878

Rev Archdeacon Stock

No	275
Date of Notice	7 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hampton	Harriet Ellen Hampton
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Hampton	Harriett Ellen Hampton
	💍 1878/2595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draughtsman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Willis Street, Wellington
Folio	78/2636
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev Archdeacon Stock

276

9 October 1878

Carl Johan Gregers Petersen
Johanne Antoinette Frederikke Moulnie

Carl Johan Gregers Petersen
Johanna Antoinette Frederikhe Rowland
💍 1878/2591

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Servant

25
20

Wellington
do

3 days
3 days

St Pauls Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

78/2632

9 October 1878

Revd B W Harvey

No	276
Date of Notice	9 October 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Johan Gregers Petersen	Johanne Antoinette Frederikke Moulnie
BDM Match (91%)	Carl Johan Gregers Petersen	Johanna Antoinette Frederikhe Rowland
	💍 1878/2591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Servant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Pauls Cathedral, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	78/2632
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd B W Harvey

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).