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 0445

District of Waipawa 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

210

9 July 1878

Barnard Gilmore
Hannah Tinker

Bernard Gilmore
Hannah Tinker
💍 1878/2257

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Nil

33
33

Kaikora
Kaikora

1 year
1 year

In the house of J. B. Firth at Te Aute

78/2239

9 July 1878

Rev. S. Williams, CofE

No	210
Date of Notice	9 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Barnard Gilmore	Hannah Tinker
BDM Match (97%)	Bernard Gilmore	Hannah Tinker
	💍 1878/2257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Nil
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Kaikora	Kaikora
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	In the house of J. B. Firth at Te Aute
Folio	78/2239
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Williams, CofE

211

1 August 1878

Edwin Dean
Mary Ann Alding

Edwin Dean
Mary Ann Alding
💍 1878/1926

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

32
21

Te Aute
Te Aute

9 years
3 years

In the Church of England at Waipawa

78/1852

1 August 1878

Rev. D. B. Eeeded, CofE

No	211
Date of Notice	1 August 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Dean	Mary Ann Alding
	💍 1878/1926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Te Aute	Te Aute
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England at Waipawa
Folio	78/1852
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. B. Eeeded, CofE

212

7 August 1878

John Lindon
Maggie Topping

John Anderson
Maggie Tipping
💍 1878/1927

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
21

Pourerere
Pourerere

3 years
3 years

In the house of Hugh Campbell at Pourerere

78/1853

7 August 1878

Rev. D. B. Eeeded, CofE

No	212
Date of Notice	7 August 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lindon	Maggie Topping
BDM Match (77%)	John Anderson	Maggie Tipping
	💍 1878/1927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Pourerere	Pourerere
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Hugh Campbell at Pourerere
Folio	78/1853
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. B. Eeeded, CofE

213

22 August 1878

Henry Thomas Brown
Annie Mary Bone

Henry Thomas Arrow
Annie Mary Bone
💍 1878/1925

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Nil

29
17

Waipawa
Waiututahi

9 years
6 weeks

In the house of Joseph Witherow at Waiututahi, Patangata

78/1857

Ann Cleary, Mother

22 August 1878

Rev. J. Parkin, United

No	213
Date of Notice	22 August 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Brown	Annie Mary Bone
BDM Match (92%)	Henry Thomas Arrow	Annie Mary Bone
	💍 1878/1925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Nil
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waiututahi
Length of Residence	9 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Joseph Witherow at Waiututahi, Patangata
Folio	78/1857
Consent	Ann Cleary, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 August 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Parkin, United

214

11 September 1878

Donald McLeod
Isabella Coghlan

Donald McLeod
Isabella Coghill
💍 1878/1909

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Nil

34
29

Waipawa
Onga Onga

3 days
3 years

In the house of John Baily, Forest Gate, Onga Onga

78/1858

11 September 1878

Rev. R. Fraser, Pres

No	214
Date of Notice	11 September 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald McLeod	Isabella Coghlan
BDM Match (91%)	Donald McLeod	Isabella Coghill
	💍 1878/1909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Nil
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Onga Onga
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John Baily, Forest Gate, Onga Onga
Folio	78/1858
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Fraser, Pres

215

24 September 1878

Willis Edmund Combs
Annie Clara Coles

Willis Edmund Combs
Annie Clara Coles
💍 1878/1915

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Nil

32
22

Napier
Waipawa

5 years
3 days

In the School Room at Onga Onga

78/1864

24 September 1878

Rev. D. Shearman, CofE

No	215
Date of Notice	24 September 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willis Edmund Combs	Annie Clara Coles
	💍 1878/1915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Nil
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Waipawa
Length of Residence	5 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the School Room at Onga Onga
Folio	78/1864
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Shearman, 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).