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 881

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1878 Registrar Archibald Reid Ure

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

8 March 1878

David Johnston
Mary Boyd

David Johnston
Mary Boyd
💍 1878/680

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

35 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
2 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

78/665

8 March 1878

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	81
Date of Notice	8 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Johnston	Mary Boyd
	💍 1878/680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	35 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	78/665
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1878
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

11 March 1878

George Bruce
Wilhelmina Sutherland

George Bruce
Wilhelmina Sutherland
💍 1878/718

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

35 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
14 days

In the house of Revd Dr Stuart, Dunedin

78/728

11 March 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	82
Date of Notice	11 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bruce	Wilhelmina Sutherland
	💍 1878/718
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	35 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd Dr Stuart, Dunedin
Folio	78/728
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

12 March 1878

Forester William Styles
Jane Turner Smail

Forrester William Styles
Jane Turner Smail
💍 1878/722

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Station Manager

20 years
16 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
7 months

In the house of Mrs Alison Smail, Castle Street, Dunedin

78/731

James Styles, father of Minor Alison Smail mother of Minor

12 March 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	83
Date of Notice	12 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Forester William Styles	Jane Turner Smail
BDM Match (98%)	Forrester William Styles	Jane Turner Smail
	💍 1878/722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Station Manager
Age	20 years	16 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	7 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Alison Smail, Castle Street, Dunedin
Folio	78/731
Consent	James Styles, father of Minor Alison Smail mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	12 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

13 March 1878

Ludwig Mosch
Margaret Amelia Carveth

Ludwig Mosch
Margaret Amelia Carvett
💍 1878/721

Bachelor
Widow

Teacher

24 years
38 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 months
16 years

In the house of Revd Dr Stuart, Dunedin

78/730

13 March 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	84
Date of Notice	13 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ludwig Mosch	Margaret Amelia Carveth
BDM Match (98%)	Ludwig Mosch	Margaret Amelia Carvett
	💍 1878/721
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Teacher
Age	24 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 months	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd Dr Stuart, Dunedin
Folio	78/730
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

13 March 1878

Charles Edward George
Rebecca Jane Foster

Charles Edward George
Rebecca Jane Foster
💍 1878/723

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
23 years

In the house of Mrs Eliza Ann Foster, George Street, Dunedin

78/732

13 March 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	85
Date of Notice	13 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward George	Rebecca Jane Foster
	💍 1878/723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Eliza Ann Foster, George Street, Dunedin
Folio	78/732
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

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).