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 757

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 March 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
68	2 January 1878	Peter Good Elizabeth Husband	Peter Good Elizabeth Husband 💍 1878/1429	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic Servant	26 years 17 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 years 1 year	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton	78/1314	Ann Leaky, mother	4 January 1878	Revd W. E. Paige
69	2 January 1878	Thomas Blackburn Lucy Ellen Martin	Thomas Blackburn Lucy Ellen Martin 💍 1878/1428	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	25 years 19 years	South Rakaia South Rakaia	1 1/2 years 1 1/2 years	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton	78/1313	William Martin, Father	4 January 1878	Revd W. E. Paige
70	7 January 1878	Arthur Mangham Emma Louisa Lake	Arthur Mangham Emma Louisa Lake 💍 1878/593	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	21 years 18 years	South Rakaia South Rakaia	12 years 12 years	St Mark's Church, South Rakaia	78/601	Charles Lake, Father	8 January 1878	Revd Henry Collins
71	10 January 1878	Edward Joghill Ellen Johns	Edward Toghill Ellen Johns 💍 1878/598	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Domestic Servant	37 years 28 years	Chertsey Chertsey	6 months 2 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	78/605		10 January 1878	J. Ward, Registrar
72	15 January 1878	James Stephen Sarah Smithern	James Stephen Sarah Smitheren 💍 1878/599	Bachelor Spinster	Store-Keeper Domestic Servant	26 years 21 years	Alford Forest Alford Forest	8 years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	78/606		15 January 1878	J. Ward, Registrar
73	26 January 1878	William Brown McDonald Anne Isabella Holmes	William Brown McDonald Anne Isabella Holmes 💍 1878/600	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic Servant	27 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	5 years 1 year	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	78/607		26 January 1878	J. Ward, Registrar
74	29 January 1878	Thomas Dudson Mary Manning	Thomas Dudson Mary Manning 💍 1878/594	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler [illegible]	24 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	4 months 1 week	Catholic Church, Ashburton	78/602		29 January 1878	Revd J. A. Chervier
75	2 February 1878	George Frickett Margaret Kemp	George Trickett Margaret Kemp 💍 1878/601	Bachelor Widow	Boarding House Keeper [illegible]	37 years 32 years	Ashburton Ashburton	10 months 10 months	Registrar's Office, Ashburton	78/608		2 February 1878	J. Ward, Registrar
76	11 February 1878	Thomas Stanton Margaret Blant	Thomas Stanton Margaret Clarke 💍 1878/1430	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Domestic Servant	29 years 36 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 weeks 3 weeks	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton	78/1315		11 February 1878	Revd W. E. Paige
77	12 February 1878	Mark Anthony Elizabeth Robbins	Mark Anthony Elizabeth Robbins 💍 1878/1434	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	27 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	4 years 10 years	Private dwelling house of George Robbins, Ashburton	78/1318		12 February 1878	Revd A. B. Burnett
78	22 February 1878	Hugh Muir Mary Dawson	Hugh Muir Mary Dawson 💍 1878/1435	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	21 years 19 years	Longbeach Longbeach	2 years 1 1/2 years	Private Dwelling House of Andrew Dawson, Longbeach	78/1319	Andrew Dawson, Father	23 February 1878	Revd A. B. Burnett
79	25 February 1878	Knud Andreasen Lands Amelia Ann Andrews	Knud Andersson Sands Amelia Ann Andrews 💍 1878/595	Bachelor Spinster	Tent-Maker Dress-Maker	31 years 27 years	Ashburton Ashburton	1 year 2 years	Wesleyan Church, Ashburton	78/609		25 February 1878	Revd W. B. Martin

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).