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 873

District of Dunedin 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

4 February 1878

George Clotton Wilkinson
Mary Ann Sayers

George Clifton Wilkinson
Mary Ann Sagers
💍 1878/730

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

23 years
18 years

St. Kilda
St. Kilda

12 months
3 years

In the house of Revd. D Stuart

78/416

Henry Sayers, father of Minor

4 February 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	36
Date of Notice	4 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Clotton Wilkinson	Mary Ann Sayers
BDM Match (93%)	George Clifton Wilkinson	Mary Ann Sagers
	💍 1878/730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	23 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	St. Kilda	St. Kilda
Length of Residence	12 months	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd. D Stuart
Folio	78/416
Consent	Henry Sayers, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	4 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

5 February 1878

Thomas Alfred Lister
Annie Hay

Thomas Alfred Lister
Annie Hay
💍 1878/755

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Domestic Servant

25 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

9 days
7 days

In the house of James Coffey, St. David Street

78/481

5 February 1878

Revd J. Ward

No	37
Date of Notice	5 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Lister	Annie Hay
	💍 1878/755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Domestic Servant
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	9 days	7 days
Marriage Place	In the house of James Coffey, St. David Street
Folio	78/481
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd J. Ward

6 February 1878

Allan Orr
Eliza Ward

Allan Orr
Eliza Ward
💍 1878/675

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
18 months

In All Saints Church, Dunedin

78/683

6 February 1878

Rev. L. Stanford

No	38
Date of Notice	6 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Orr	Eliza Ward
	💍 1878/675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church, Dunedin
Folio	78/683
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Stanford

6 February 1878

William Mason
Ann Sophia Cornish

William Mason
Ann Sophia Cornish
💍 1878/745

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab Proprietor

23 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 years
17 years

In the house of Frederick Cornish, Leith Street

78/524

Frederick Cornish, father of Minor

6 February 1878

Revd Lindsay Mackie

No	39
Date of Notice	6 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mason	Ann Sophia Cornish
	💍 1878/745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab Proprietor
Age	23 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Frederick Cornish, Leith Street
Folio	78/524
Consent	Frederick Cornish, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	6 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Lindsay Mackie

8 February 1878

Thomas McEwan
Mary Gayner

Thomas McEwan
Mary Gayner
💍 1878/731

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot finisher

22 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
3 days

In the house of Thomas McEwan, George Street

78/417

8 February 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	40
Date of Notice	8 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McEwan	Mary Gayner
	💍 1878/731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot finisher
Age	22 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas McEwan, George Street
Folio	78/417
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

8 February 1878

William John Henry White
Ann Timmins

William John Henry Whurr
Ann Timmins
💍 1878/647

Bachelor
Widow

Cook
Housekeeper

25 years
34 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
3 months

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

78/655

8 February 1878

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	41
Date of Notice	8 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Henry White	Ann Timmins
BDM Match (94%)	William John Henry Whurr	Ann Timmins
	💍 1878/647
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cook	Housekeeper
Age	25 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	78/655
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1878
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

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 1903. 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).