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 870

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

18 January 1878

Robert Dalziel
Clara Stokes

Robert Dalziel
Clara Stokes
💍 1878/668

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33 years
19 years

Brockville
Dunedin

22 years
16 years

In the house of Elisha Stokes, Great King Street, Dunedin

78/764

Elisha Stokes, father of Minor

January 19

Revd. H. J. Haley

No	18
Date of Notice	18 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dalziel	Clara Stokes
	💍 1878/668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Brockville	Dunedin
Length of Residence	22 years	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Elisha Stokes, Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	78/764
Consent	Elisha Stokes, father of Minor
Date of Certificate	January 19
Officiating Minister	Revd. H. J. Haley

19 January 1878

James George Hardwick
Margaret Burton

James George Hardwick
Margaret Burton
💍 1878/758

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

26 years
26 years

Dunedin
Port Chalmers

2 years
3 days

In the house of Archibald Donald, Grey Street, Port Chalmers

78/760

January 19

Revd. J. I. Lewis

No	19
Date of Notice	19 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James George Hardwick	Margaret Burton
	💍 1878/758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	26 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Port Chalmers
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Archibald Donald, Grey Street, Port Chalmers
Folio	78/760
Consent
Date of Certificate	January 19
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. I. Lewis

20 January 1878

William West
Maria Quinn

William West
Maria Quinn
💍 1878/646

Bachelor
Spinster

Mason
Domestic Servant

28 years
27 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

40 months
2 months

In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin

78/654

January 19

A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

No	20
Date of Notice	20 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William West	Maria Quinn
	💍 1878/646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mason	Domestic Servant
Age	28 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	40 months	2 months
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Dunedin
Folio	78/654
Consent
Date of Certificate	January 19
Officiating Minister	A. R. Ure, Registrar of Marriages

21 January 1878

John Walter Brindley
Margaret Campbell

John Walter Brindley
Margaret Campbell
💍 1878/708

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Manager

28 years
23 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 1/2 months
23 years

In the house of Daniel Campbell, Great King Street, Dunedin

78/770

January 21

Revd. Dr. Stuart

No	21
Date of Notice	21 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walter Brindley	Margaret Campbell
	💍 1878/708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Manager
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 1/2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Daniel Campbell, Great King Street, Dunedin
Folio	78/770
Consent
Date of Certificate	January 21
Officiating Minister	Revd. Dr. Stuart

22 January 1878

David Walker
Kate Farrell

David Walker
Kate Farrell
💍 1878/735

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic Servant

21 years
19 years

Newington
Newington

5 months
3 months

In St. Joseph's Chapel, Dunedin

78/745

no one in the Colony to give consent to Minor

January 22

Right Revd. Dr. Moran, RC

No	22
Date of Notice	22 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Walker	Kate Farrell
	💍 1878/735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic Servant
Age	21 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Newington	Newington
Length of Residence	5 months	3 months
Marriage Place	In St. Joseph's Chapel, Dunedin
Folio	78/745
Consent	no one in the Colony to give consent to Minor
Date of Certificate	January 22
Officiating Minister	Right Revd. Dr. Moran, RC

23 January 1878

Frederick James Searle
Grace Rice

Frederick James Serle
Grace Rice
💍 1878/719

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

43 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

1 year
1 1/2 years

In the house of Revd. Dr. Stuart, Dunedin

78/911

January 22

Revd. Dr. Stuart

No	23
Date of Notice	23 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Searle	Grace Rice
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick James Serle	Grace Rice
	💍 1878/719
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	43 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	1 year	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Revd. Dr. Stuart, Dunedin
Folio	78/911
Consent
Date of Certificate	January 22
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).