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 863

District of Palmerston South Quarter ending 30 September 1878 Registrar John Keen

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

1 July 1878

John Fraser Macqueen Fraser
Harriet Frances Ireland

John Fraser McQueen Fraser
Harriet Frances Ireland
💍 1878/2301

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Nil

26
23

Palmerston
Dunedin

1 year
1 year

All Saints Church Dunedin

78/2286

1 July 1878

The Rev. Stanford, All Saints Church Dunedin

No	11
Date of Notice	1 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fraser Macqueen Fraser	Harriet Frances Ireland
BDM Match (96%)	John Fraser McQueen Fraser	Harriet Frances Ireland
	💍 1878/2301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Nil
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Dunedin
Folio	78/2286
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1878
Officiating Minister	The Rev. Stanford, All Saints Church Dunedin

22 July 1878

Stephen Powell
Emma Bryan Satterthwaite

Stephen Powell
Emma Bryan Satterthwaite
💍 1878/2181

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer
Nil

30
20

Palmerston
Timaru

3 Months
3 Months

In the house of Mr. Satterthwaite, Timaru

78/2157

Mr. Satterthwaite, Father

22 July 1878

The Rev. J. Gillies, Timaru

No	12
Date of Notice	22 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Powell	Emma Bryan Satterthwaite
	💍 1878/2181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer	Nil
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Timaru
Length of Residence	3 Months	3 Months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Satterthwaite, Timaru
Folio	78/2157
Consent	Mr. Satterthwaite, Father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1878
Officiating Minister	The Rev. J. Gillies, Timaru

25 July 1878

William James Alderdice
Isabella Annan

William James Alderdice
Isabella Annan
💍 1878/2192

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Dressmaker

30
29

Palmerston
Palmerston

1 Month
1 Month

In the house of Mrs Annan Palmerston

78/2195

25 July 1878

The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

No	13
Date of Notice	25 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Alderdice	Isabella Annan
	💍 1878/2192
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	1 Month	1 Month
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Annan Palmerston
Folio	78/2195
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1878
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

30 July 1878

James Roberts
Margaret McMullen

James Roberts
Margaret McMullan
💍 1878/1419

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
24

Palmerston
Palmerston

1 Month
1 Month

In the house of Henry Hurndell Palmerston

78/2194

30 July 1878

The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

No	14
Date of Notice	30 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Roberts	Margaret McMullen
BDM Match (97%)	James Roberts	Margaret McMullan
	💍 1878/1419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	1 Month	1 Month
Marriage Place	In the house of Henry Hurndell Palmerston
Folio	78/2194
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1878
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

3 August 1878

Nathaniel Bell Currie
Simonina Paterson

Nathaniel Bell Currie
Simonina Paterson
💍 1878/2193

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Nil

26
20

Palmerston
Pleasant Valley

6 days
1 Month

In the house of Mrs Paterson, Pleasant Valley

78/2196

Mrs Paterson, mother

7 August 1878

The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

No	15
Date of Notice	3 August 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathaniel Bell Currie	Simonina Paterson
	💍 1878/2193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Nil
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Pleasant Valley
Length of Residence	6 days	1 Month
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Paterson, Pleasant Valley
Folio	78/2196
Consent	Mrs Paterson, mother
Date of Certificate	7 August 1878
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

19 August 1878

Richard Grenfell
Ellen Read

Richard Grenfell
Ellen Read
💍 1878/2194

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

22
19

Palmerston
Palmerston

1 Month
1 Month

In the house of Mr. Heimburgh, Palmerston

78/2197

Mrs Read, mother

19 August 1878

The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

No	16
Date of Notice	19 August 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Grenfell	Ellen Read
	💍 1878/2194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	1 Month	1 Month
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. Heimburgh, Palmerston
Folio	78/2197
Consent	Mrs Read, mother
Date of Certificate	19 August 1878
Officiating Minister	The Rev. James Clark, Palmerston

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).