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 703

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1878

No	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
4998	7 June 1878	Charles Ralph Campbell Sara Robinson	Charles Ralfe Campbell Sara Robinson 💍 1878/1223	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	28 20	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 2 months	St. Lukes Church	78/1248		7 June 1878	Rev. H. C. M. Watson, CofE
4999	8 June 1878	Thomas Revell [illegible] Harris		Bachelor [illegible]	Farmer	28 28	Flaxton Avonside	18 months [illegible]	In the Church	78/1253		8 June 1878	Rev. H. Glasson, CofE
5000	8 June 1878	Andrew Purves Letitia Harris	Andrew Purves Letitia Harris 💍 1878/1207	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	23 20	Papanui Papanui	2 years 20 years	In the Church	78/1222	Albert Harris, Father	8 June 1878	Rev. F. H. Brittan, CofE
5001	8 June 1878	Robert Young Eliza Broome	Robert Young Eliza Broome 💍 1878/2053	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	25 18	Lincoln Lincoln	4 years 18 years	In the house of Mrs. Gelder	78/2003	Hannah Sedden, Mother	8 June 1878	Rev. R. Waddell, Pres
5002	9 June 1878	Edwin Davies Sarah Wood	Edwin Davies Isabella Sarah Wood 💍 1878/1210	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer	40 38	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years [illegible]	St. Lukes Church	78/1253		9 June 1878	Rev. H. A. Pascoe, CofE
5003	10 June 1878	William Bell Thomson Eliza Jane Bennetts	William Bell Thomson Eliza Jane Bennetto 💍 1878/2139	Bachelor Spinster	Cattle Driver	27 23	Christchurch Christchurch	9 months 26 years	In the house of Mr. C. Fraser	78/2064		10 June 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5004	11 June 1878	John Guise Gilby Susan Greenwood	John Emison Gilby Susan Greenwood 💍 1878/1254	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	29 18	Christchurch Christchurch	9 years 3 years	In the house of Mr. Greenwood	78/1254	Richard Greenwood, Father	11 June 1878	Rev. W. Gissley, Prim
5005	12 June 1878	John Muir Mather Bethia Richards Baker		Bachelor Widow	Farmer Housekeeper	37 30	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 3 days	In the house of Mr. C. Fraser	78/2038		12 June 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5006	13 June 1878	Joseph Heudy Bethia Richards		Bachelor Widow	Labourer	29 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the house of Mr. C. Fraser	78/2039		13 June 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5007	13 June 1878	Edwin Haines Eliza Hunt	Edwin Haines Eliza Hunt 💍 1878/2111	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 days	In the house of Mr. C. Fraser	78/2040	Jeremiah Hunt, Father	13 June 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5008	13 June 1878	Hubert Medley Annie Hulston	Hubert Mahoney Medley Annie Hulston 💍 1878/2112	Widower Widow	Agent Machinist	45 40	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 3 days	In the house of Mr. C. Fraser	78/2041		13 June 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, 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 1899. 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).