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 945

District of Port Chalmers Quarter ending 30 June 1878 Registrar John Robert Monson

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

17 April 1878

Thomas Thomson
Christina Gilmour

Thomas Thomson
Christina Gilmour
💍 1878/1587

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dressmaker

31
23

Dalkeiths, Sawyers Bay
Dalkeiths, Sawyers Bay

12 Months
12 Months

House of Mr Gilmour, Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers

78/1501

17 April 1878

Rev. Dr Copland

No	1
Date of Notice	17 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Thomson	Christina Gilmour
	💍 1878/1587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dressmaker
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Dalkeiths, Sawyers Bay	Dalkeiths, Sawyers Bay
Length of Residence	12 Months	12 Months
Marriage Place	House of Mr Gilmour, Sawyers Bay, Port Chalmers
Folio	78/1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr Copland

22 April 1878

John Drysdale
Alice Dodson

John Drysdale
Alice Dodson
💍 1878/1586

Bachelor
Spinster

Doctor of Medicine

37
26

George Street, Port Chalmers
George Street, Port Chalmers

13 years
7 years

At Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers

78/1500

22 April 1878

Rev. Lorenzo Moore, M.A.

No	2
Date of Notice	22 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Drysdale	Alice Dodson
	💍 1878/1586
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Doctor of Medicine
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	George Street, Port Chalmers	George Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	13 years	7 years
Marriage Place	At Holy Trinity Church, Port Chalmers
Folio	78/1500
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lorenzo Moore, M.A.

25 April 1878

Francis Vivian
Sarah Ann McWhinney

Francis Vivian
Sarah Ann McWhinney
💍 1878/1588

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Servant

23
19

Scotia Street, Port Chalmers
Scotia Street, Port Chalmers

3 days
3 days

At the Wesleyan Parsonage, Port Chalmers

78/1502

Mary Ann McWhinney, her Mother

25 April 1878

Rev. Wm Keall

No	3
Date of Notice	25 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Vivian	Sarah Ann McWhinney
	💍 1878/1588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Servant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Scotia Street, Port Chalmers	Scotia Street, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	At the Wesleyan Parsonage, Port Chalmers
Folio	78/1502
Consent	Mary Ann McWhinney, her Mother
Date of Certificate	25 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Keall

25 April 1878

Mungo Kirkwood
Margaret Hunter

Mungo Kirkwood
Margaret Winter
💍 1878/2287

Bachelor
Spinster

Smiths Forger
Domestic Servant

21
19

Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers

9 Months
10 months

House of Mr Thos Kirkwood, Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers

78/2295

None in Colony

25 April 1878

Rev. James Maxwell, Congre.

No	4
Date of Notice	25 April 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mungo Kirkwood	Margaret Hunter
BDM Match (93%)	Mungo Kirkwood	Margaret Winter
	💍 1878/2287
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Smiths Forger	Domestic Servant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers	Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	9 Months	10 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr Thos Kirkwood, Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Folio	78/2295
Consent	None in Colony
Date of Certificate	25 April 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell, Congre.

21 May 1878

Alfred Perry
Mary Ann Jessie Vincent

Alfred Perry
Mary Ann Jessie Vincent
💍 1878/2286

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman
General Servant

26
19

Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers

14 years
6 weeks

House of Mr Perry, Port Chalmers

78/2294

None in Colony

21 May 1878

Rev. James Maxwell, Congre.

No	5
Date of Notice	21 May 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Perry	Mary Ann Jessie Vincent
	💍 1878/2286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman	General Servant
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers	Wickliffe Terrace, Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	14 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	House of Mr Perry, Port Chalmers
Folio	78/2294
Consent	None in Colony
Date of Certificate	21 May 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Maxwell, Congre.

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).