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 906

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 30 September 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

221

6 July 1878

Natter Smith
Isabella Maclellan

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Tailoress

22 years
25 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2 years
16 years

In the house of Mrs Janet Johnston, Great King Street

78/2209

6 July 1878

Revd Dr. Stuart

No	221
Date of Notice	6 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Natter Smith	Isabella Maclellan
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Tailoress
Age	22 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Janet Johnston, Great King Street
Folio	78/2209
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr. Stuart

222

8 July 1878

Carl Johan Oscar Bohm
Anne Buchanan

Carl Johan Oscar Bohm
Anne Buchanan
💍 1878/2277

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

33 years
28 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

7 years
3 years

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages

78/2263

8 July 1878

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	222
Date of Notice	8 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Johan Oscar Bohm	Anne Buchanan
	💍 1878/2277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	33 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	78/2263
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1878
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

223

8 July 1878

Alan Morreen Dicker
Mary Kate Eliott

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23 years
21 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

18 months
18 months

In St. Matthews Church

8 July 1878

Revd. C. J. Byng

No	223
Date of Notice	8 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Morreen Dicker	Mary Kate Eliott
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	18 months
Marriage Place	In St. Matthews Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. C. J. Byng

224

9 July 1878

James White
Frances Aileen Scannell

James Whiston
Frances Bradley
💍 1878/227

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic Servant

23 years
20 years

Caversham
Dunedin

18 months
4 years

In St. Peters Church

708/78

no person in the Colony to give Consent to minor

9 July 1878

Revd E. G. Edwards

No	224
Date of Notice	9 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James White	Frances Aileen Scannell
BDM Match (60%)	James Whiston	Frances Bradley
	💍 1878/227
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic Servant
Age	23 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Caversham	Dunedin
Length of Residence	18 months	4 years
Marriage Place	In St. Peters Church
Folio	708/78
Consent	no person in the Colony to give Consent to minor
Date of Certificate	9 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd E. G. Edwards

225

9 July 1878

Wilhelm Mohrle
Catherine Galloway

Wilhelm Mohrle
Catharine Galloway
💍 1878/2205

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

31 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2.5 years
2.5 years

In Knox Church

78/2207

9 July 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	225
Date of Notice	9 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilhelm Mohrle	Catherine Galloway
BDM Match (97%)	Wilhelm Mohrle	Catharine Galloway
	💍 1878/2205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	31 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2.5 years	2.5 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	78/2207
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

226

10 July 1878

Ernest Henry Carter
Ellen Boland

Ernest Henry Carter
Ellen Boland
💍 1878/2233

Bachelor
Spinster

Engraver
Domestic Servant

23 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

2.5 years
4 years

In Knox Church

78/2214

10 July 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	226
Date of Notice	10 July 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Carter	Ellen Boland
	💍 1878/2233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engraver	Domestic Servant
Age	23 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2.5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	78/2214
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 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 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).