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 874

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1878 Registrar A R 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

11 February 1878

John Savage
Rachel Norman

John Savage
Rachel Norman
💍 1878/648

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Stapler

39 years
51 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

14 days
3 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

78/656

11 February 1878

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	42
Date of Notice	11 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Savage	Rachel Norman
	💍 1878/648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Stapler
Age	39 years	51 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	14 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	78/656
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1878
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

11 February 1878

Robert Francis Foster
Kitty Margaret Carpenter

Robert Francis Foster
Kitty Margaret Carpenter
💍 1878/664

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Milliner

24 years
24 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

8 days
8 days

In St. Pauls Church Dunedin

78/763

11 February 1878

Revd E. G. Edwards, CofE

No	43
Date of Notice	11 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Francis Foster	Kitty Margaret Carpenter
	💍 1878/664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Milliner
Age	24 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	8 days	8 days
Marriage Place	In St. Pauls Church Dunedin
Folio	78/763
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd E. G. Edwards, CofE

11 February 1878

John Molony
Margaret Slynes

John Moloney
Margaret Slynes
💍 1878/739

Bachelor
Widow

Mason

35 years
36 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

In St. Josephs Chapel Dunedin

78/749

11 February 1878

Right Revd Dr Moran, RC

No	44
Date of Notice	11 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Molony	Margaret Slynes
BDM Match (96%)	John Moloney	Margaret Slynes
	💍 1878/739
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Mason
Age	35 years	36 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	In St. Josephs Chapel Dunedin
Folio	78/749
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Right Revd Dr Moran, RC

12 February 1878

Angelo Joel Davis
Fanny Giles

Angelo Joel Davis
Fanny Giles
💍 1878/649

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Manager

40 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

10 weeks
4 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin

78/657

12 February 1878

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	45
Date of Notice	12 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angelo Joel Davis	Fanny Giles
	💍 1878/649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Manager
Age	40 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	10 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dunedin
Folio	78/657
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1878
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

12 February 1878

John Cuttle
Elizabeth Niven

John Cuttle
Elizabeth Niven
💍 1878/732

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Painter
Dressmaker

23 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 1/2 years
3 years

In the house of Mrs Mary Coffey, St. David Street Dunedin

78/718

12 February 1878

Revd Dr Stuart

No	46
Date of Notice	12 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cuttle	Elizabeth Niven
	💍 1878/732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Painter	Dressmaker
Age	23 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Mary Coffey, St. David Street Dunedin
Folio	78/718
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart

13 February 1878

Herbert Bradbury
Amelia Annie Morgan

Herbert Bradbury
Amelia Annie Morgan
💍 1878/750

Bachelor
Spinster

Ships Steward
Cook

27 years
25 years

Port Chalmers
Caversham

7 days
7 days

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Port Chalmers

78/759

13 February 1878

J R. Monson, Registrar of Marriages

No	47
Date of Notice	13 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Bradbury	Amelia Annie Morgan
	💍 1878/750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ships Steward	Cook
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Port Chalmers	Caversham
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages Port Chalmers
Folio	78/759
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1878
Officiating Minister	J R. Monson, 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 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).