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 0751

District of Ellesmere 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

30 April 1878

Charles Early
Eliza Woolhouse

Charles Early
Eliza Woolhouse Waby
💍 1878/1443

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
20

Southbridge
Southbridge

3 days
11 years

at the house of Mr George Chester, Southbridge

78/1304

George b. Waby, Father

30 April 1878

Rev.d William Worker of Leeston

No	35
Date of Notice	30 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Early	Eliza Woolhouse
BDM Match (88%)	Charles Early	Eliza Woolhouse Waby
	💍 1878/1443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Southbridge	Southbridge
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr George Chester, Southbridge
Folio	78/1304
Consent	George b. Waby, Father
Date of Certificate	30 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d William Worker of Leeston

17 May 1878

Robert James Gibson Douglas
Elizabeth Amor

Robert James Gibson Douglas
Elizabeth Amor
💍 1878/1444

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

24
15

Leeston
Doyleston

12 months
10 years

at the Presbyterian Manse, Leeston

78/1305

Richard Amor, Father

17 May 1878

Rev.d J. W. Cree of Leeston

No	36
Date of Notice	17 May 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Gibson Douglas	Elizabeth Amor
	💍 1878/1444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	24	15
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Doyleston
Length of Residence	12 months	10 years
Marriage Place	at the Presbyterian Manse, Leeston
Folio	78/1305
Consent	Richard Amor, Father
Date of Certificate	17 May 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d J. W. Cree of Leeston

25 May 1878

Jacob Rothery
Norah Moloney

Jacob Rothery
Norah Moloney
💍 1878/1425

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
20

Taumutu
Taumutu

2 years
12 months

Roman Catholic Chapel at Leeston

declaration made that there is no one in the colony having authority to give consent

25 May 1878

Rev.d J. b. Chervier of Shands Track

No	37
Date of Notice	25 May 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jacob Rothery	Norah Moloney
	💍 1878/1425
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Taumutu	Taumutu
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel at Leeston
Folio
Consent	declaration made that there is no one in the colony having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d J. b. Chervier of Shands Track

27 May 1878

Sam Pratt
Annie McLeunan

Sam Pratt
Annie McLennan
💍 1878/1445

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter

28
26

Leeston
Leeston

1 year
4 years

at the house of Mr. McLeunan at Leeston

78/1306

27 May 1878

Rev.d J.W. Cree of Leeston

No	38
Date of Notice	27 May 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sam Pratt	Annie McLeunan
BDM Match (96%)	Sam Pratt	Annie McLennan
	💍 1878/1445
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	1 year	4 years
Marriage Place	at the house of Mr. McLeunan at Leeston
Folio	78/1306
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d J.W. Cree of Leeston

7 June 1878

William Donaldson
Ann Harper

William Donaldson
Ann Harper
💍 1878/1446

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
28

Leeston
Leeston

9 years
2 years

at the Presbyterian Manse at Leeston

78/1307

7 June 1878

Rev.d J.W. Cree of Leeston

No	39
Date of Notice	7 June 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donaldson	Ann Harper
	💍 1878/1446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Leeston	Leeston
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the Presbyterian Manse at Leeston
Folio	78/1307
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d J.W. Cree of Leeston

13 June 1878

James McArthur
Margaret Donald

James McArthur
Margaret Donald
💍 1878/1423

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Keeper

26
24

Killinchy
Killinchy

2 years
5 years

In the Presbyterian Manse at Leeston

78/1308

13 June 1878

Rev.d J.W. Cree of Leeston

No	40
Date of Notice	13 June 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McArthur	Margaret Donald
	💍 1878/1423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Keeper
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Killinchy	Killinchy
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Manse at Leeston
Folio	78/1308
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d J.W. Cree of Leeston

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).