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 714

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1878

No	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
5097	28 August 1878	John Lochhead Blair Minnie Sinclair Shearer	John Lockhead Blair Minnie Sinclair Shearer 💍 1878/2054	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	25 22	Lincoln Lincoln	6 years 1 year	In the house of Mr. Blair	78/2004		August 28	Rev R. Haddrell
5098	31 August 1878	Douglas MacKenzie Luckie Catherine Emily Hodge	Douglas MacKenzie Luckie Catherine Elizabeth Hodge 💍 1878/2118	Bachelor Widow	Civil Service Officer	33 34	Christchurch Christchurch	4 years 15 years	In the house of Mr Luckie	78/2040		August 31	R. C. Fraser
5099	31 August 1878	Caleb Lusty Catherine Campbell	Caleb Lusty Catherine Campbell 💍 1878/2117	Bachelor Spinster	Wool Carder Weaver	23 19	Waltham Waltham	1 week 1 week	In the house of Rev C Fraser	78/2069	William Campbell, Father	31 August 1878	Rev. C. Fraser, Pres
5100	3 September 1878	Henry Thomas Shepherd Mary Ellen Kemp	Henry Thoene Shepherd Mary Dillon Kemp 💍 1878/2119	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 22	Christchurch West Melton	15 years 5 years	In the house of Mrs. Chase	78/2041		September 3	R. C. Fraser
5101	4 September 1878	John Kemp Jane Jamieson	John Kemp Agnes Jane Jamieson 💍 1878/2049	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Teacher	24 19	West Melton Addington	6 years 15 years	St Michaels Church	78/1999	Samuel Jamieson, Father	September 4	Rev E. G. Penny
5102	5 September 1878	John Alexander Duncan Emily Hill	John Alexander Duncan Emily Olympus Hill 💍 1878/2120	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 weeks 5 years	In the house of Mr. Hill	78/2042		September 5	R. C. Fraser
5103	5 September 1878	William Sunnago Sarah French Bright	William Dunnage Sarah French Bright 💍 1878/3183	Widower Widow	Civil Service Officer	45 49	Avonside Avonside	2 years 1 year	Avonside Church	78/3214		September 5	Rev H. Glasson
5104	6 September 1878	James Rew Elizabeth Louisa Lucas	James Rew Elizabeth Louisa Lucas 💍 1878/2081	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	35 23	Christchurch Christchurch	14 years 14 years	St Lukes Church			September 6	Rev J. Stack
5105	7 September 1878	Charles Sheppard Rose Mary Rawcliffe	Charles Sheppard Rose Mary Nankwell 💍 1878/2059	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	26 19	Woolston Woolston	4 years 6 years	Wesleyan Church	78/2009	John Rawcliffe, Father	September 7	Rev H. Morley
5106	9 September 1878	William Pender Philippa Ruddle	William Pender Philippa Ruddle 💍 1878/2122	Widower Spinster	Sawyer	42 32	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 6 weeks	In the house of Mr. Pender	78/3044		September 9	R. C. Fraser
5107	9 September 1878	Andrew Scott Eliza McLeroy	Andrew Scott Eliza McIlroy 💍 1878/3388	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 26	Papanui Papanui	2 years 4 years	Papanui Church	78/2109		September 9	Rev F. G. Brittain

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 1899. 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).