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 443

District of Waipawa 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

204

30 April 1878

Walter Adair
Annie Moroney

Walter Adair
Annie Moroney
💍 1878/1088

Bachelor
Spinster

Publican
Nil

26
22

Waipawa
Waipawa

4 days
3 months

In St Patricks Chapel at Waipawa

78/1107

30 April 1878

Rev. E. Reignier

No	204
Date of Notice	30 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Adair	Annie Moroney
	💍 1878/1088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Publican	Nil
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	In St Patricks Chapel at Waipawa
Folio	78/1107
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Reignier

205

9 May 1878

Alexander Huntley Barron
Louisa de Pelichet Hunter

Alexander Huntley Barron
Louise McGirr
💍 1878/1129

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer
Nil

27
21

Kaikora
Kaikora

6 months
1 week

In the house of Thomas Nelson Carr at Kaikora

78/1143

9 May 1878

Rev. J.C. Eccles

No	205
Date of Notice	9 May 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Huntley Barron	Louisa de Pelichet Hunter
BDM Match (68%)	Alexander Huntley Barron	Louise McGirr
	💍 1878/1129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer	Nil
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Kaikora	Kaikora
Length of Residence	6 months	1 week
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Nelson Carr at Kaikora
Folio	78/1143
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.C. Eccles

206

11 May 1878

John Edward Hammond
Fanny Robinson

John Edward Hammond
Fanney Robinson
💍 1878/1090

John Allan Dobson
Mary Robinson
💍 1878/165

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Dressmaker

32
22

Waipawa
Waipawa

3 years
1 year

In the house of J. E. Hammond at Waipawa

78/1109

11 May 1878

Rev. J. Parkin

No	206
Date of Notice	11 May 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Hammond	Fanny Robinson
BDM Match (97%)	John Edward Hammond	Fanney Robinson
	💍 1878/1090
BDM Match (63%)	John Allan Dobson	Mary Robinson
	💍 1878/165
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of J. E. Hammond at Waipawa
Folio	78/1109
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Parkin

207

16 May 1878

Mass Satterthwaite Larsen
Anne Maria Larsen

Mass Lattrupp
Ane Marie Larsen
💍 1878/1089

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Cook

26
27

Makarotu
Waipawa

2 months
2 months

In the house of H. Sundergaard at Waipawa

78/1108

16 May 1878

Rev. J.C. Eccles

No	207
Date of Notice	16 May 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mass Satterthwaite Larsen	Anne Maria Larsen
BDM Match (62%)	Mass Lattrupp	Ane Marie Larsen
	💍 1878/1089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Makarotu	Waipawa
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	In the house of H. Sundergaard at Waipawa
Folio	78/1108
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.C. Eccles

208

1 June 1878

Amos Burgess Parsons
Martha Turner

Amos Burgess
Martha Turner Parsons
💍 1878/1091

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Nil

29
18

Waipawa
Waipawa

3 years
2 years

In the house of James Marsh at Waipawa

78/1110

James Marsh, Step father

1 June 1878

Rev. J. Parkin

No	208
Date of Notice	1 June 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Amos Burgess Parsons	Martha Turner
BDM Match (61%)	Amos Burgess	Martha Turner Parsons
	💍 1878/1091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Nil
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of James Marsh at Waipawa
Folio	78/1110
Consent	James Marsh, Step father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Parkin

209

12 June 1878

George Middleton
Sarah Tunfrey

George Middleton
Sarah Turpey
💍 1878/3341

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Nil

24
18

Ruataniwha
Blackburn

3 years
6 months

In the house of Thomas Tunfrey at Blackburn

78/1113

Thomas Tunfrey, Father

12 June 1878

Rev. J. Shearman

No	209
Date of Notice	12 June 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Middleton	Sarah Tunfrey
BDM Match (88%)	George Middleton	Sarah Turpey
	💍 1878/3341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Nil
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Ruataniwha	Blackburn
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Tunfrey at Blackburn
Folio	78/1113
Consent	Thomas Tunfrey, Father
Date of Certificate	12 June 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Shearman

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).