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 605

District of Kumara Quarter ending 31 March 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

3 January 1878

Moses Barrowman
Elizabeth Morris Ward

Moses Barrowman
Elizabeth Morris Ward
💍 1878/462

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

27
19

Dunedin Flat
Kumara

16 months
7 days

At residence of Bridegroom, Dunedin Flat

78/419

Emma Self, Mother

3 January 1878

Rev. W. S. Harper

No	24
Date of Notice	3 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Moses Barrowman	Elizabeth Morris Ward
	💍 1878/462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Dunedin Flat	Kumara
Length of Residence	16 months	7 days
Marriage Place	At residence of Bridegroom, Dunedin Flat
Folio	78/419
Consent	Emma Self, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Harper

3 January 1878

Edwin Hendy
Ellen Williams

Edwin Hendy
Ellen Williams
💍 1878/463

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
None

35
34

Dunedin Flat
Kumara

17 months
14 months

At residence of W. S. Harper, Kumara

78/420

3 January 1878

Rev. W. S. Harper

No	25
Date of Notice	3 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Hendy	Ellen Williams
	💍 1878/463
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	None
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Dunedin Flat	Kumara
Length of Residence	17 months	14 months
Marriage Place	At residence of W. S. Harper, Kumara
Folio	78/420
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. Harper

8 January 1878

John Love
Margaret Frances Woodland

John Love
Margaret Frances Woodland
💍 1878/465

Bachelor
Widow

Butcher
Dressmaker

26
23

Kumara
Kumara

15 months
12 months

At the Office of Registrar, Kumara

78/422

8 January 1878

P. A. F. Birch, Registrar of Marriages

No	26
Date of Notice	8 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Love	Margaret Frances Woodland
	💍 1878/465
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	15 months	12 months
Marriage Place	At the Office of Registrar, Kumara
Folio	78/422
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1878
Officiating Minister	P. A. F. Birch, Registrar of Marriages

5 February 1878

Hugh Patrick McKeever
Anne Brogan

Hugh Patrick McReeves
Anne Brogen
💍 1878/443

Bachelor
Spinster

Druggist
None

33
23

Hokitika
Kumara

6 years
14 days

St Patricks R.C. Church, Kumara

78/424

5 February 1878

Rev. Michael Mc. Caughy

No	27
Date of Notice	5 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Patrick McKeever	Anne Brogan
BDM Match (91%)	Hugh Patrick McReeves	Anne Brogen
	💍 1878/443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Druggist	None
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Kumara
Length of Residence	6 years	14 days
Marriage Place	St Patricks R.C. Church, Kumara
Folio	78/424
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Mc. Caughy

7 February 1878

Thomas Maher
Fanny McKeavy

Thomas Maher
Hanny McAlery
💍 1878/444

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Driver
Servant

29
22

Kumara
Kumara

15 months
18 months

Catholic Church, Kumara

78/425

7 February 1878

Rev. Michael Mc. Caughy

No	28
Date of Notice	7 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Maher	Fanny McKeavy
BDM Match (81%)	Thomas Maher	Hanny McAlery
	💍 1878/444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Driver	Servant
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	15 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Kumara
Folio	78/425
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Mc. Caughy

3 March 1878

Michael Hartigan
Eliza M. Garry

Michael Martigan
Eliza McGarry
💍 1878/445

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Servant

30
17

Kumara
Kumara

1 year and 8 months
6 months

At the R. C. Church, Kumara

78/428

No person residing in Colony legally entitled to give consent

3 March 1878

Rev. Michael Mc. Caughy

No	29
Date of Notice	3 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Hartigan	Eliza M. Garry
BDM Match (90%)	Michael Martigan	Eliza McGarry
	💍 1878/445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Servant
Age	30	17
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	1 year and 8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At the R. C. Church, Kumara
Folio	78/428
Consent	No person residing in Colony legally entitled to give consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Michael Mc. Caughy

5 March 1878

James Isdell
Josephine Margaret Navy

James Isdell
Josephine McKeevey
💍 1878/446

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Barmaid

38
22

Dillman's
Dillman's

18 months
6 months

At Residence of Rev. M. Mc. Caughy, Kumara

78/429

5 March 1878

Rev. M. Mc. Caughy

No	30
Date of Notice	5 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Isdell	Josephine Margaret Navy
BDM Match (78%)	James Isdell	Josephine McKeevey
	💍 1878/446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Barmaid
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Dillman's	Dillman's
Length of Residence	18 months	6 months
Marriage Place	At Residence of Rev. M. Mc. Caughy, Kumara
Folio	78/429
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Mc. Caughy

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).