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 362

District of Wellington 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

14 March 1878

Josephus Hargreaves Richardson
Emily Ann Canty

Josephrey Hargreaves Richardson
Emily Ann Canty
💍 1878/363

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
19

Wellington
do

3 days
19 years

House of Revd. J. Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington

78/200

Eliza Crowther, mother, formerly Canty

14 March 1878

Revd. J. Paterson, Pres

No	76
Date of Notice	14 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josephus Hargreaves Richardson	Emily Ann Canty
BDM Match (95%)	Josephrey Hargreaves Richardson	Emily Ann Canty
	💍 1878/363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	3 days	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Revd. J. Paterson, The Terrace, Wellington
Folio	78/200
Consent	Eliza Crowther, mother, formerly Canty
Date of Certificate	14 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Paterson, Pres

14 March 1878

Henrich Peters
Anna Christine Wilde

Henrick Peters
Anna Christine Wilde
💍 1878/335

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Servant

26
23

do
do

18 months
3 1/2 years

House of Henrich Peters, Martin's Square, Wellington

78/290

14 March 1878

Rev C. S. Ogg, Pres

No	77
Date of Notice	14 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henrich Peters	Anna Christine Wilde
BDM Match (96%)	Henrick Peters	Anna Christine Wilde
	💍 1878/335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Servant
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	18 months	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	House of Henrich Peters, Martin's Square, Wellington
Folio	78/290
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev C. S. Ogg, Pres

15 March 1878

John Gascoyne
Sarah Normahall Nicholls

John Gascoine
Sarah Nourmahall Nicholls
💍 1878/321

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
19

do
do

20 years
11 years

House of George Nicholls, Mulgrave Street, Wellington

78/257

George Nicholls, Father

15 March 1878

Revd. John Dumbell, Prim

No	78
Date of Notice	15 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gascoyne	Sarah Normahall Nicholls
BDM Match (94%)	John Gascoine	Sarah Nourmahall Nicholls
	💍 1878/321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	20 years	11 years
Marriage Place	House of George Nicholls, Mulgrave Street, Wellington
Folio	78/257
Consent	George Nicholls, Father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. John Dumbell, Prim

15 March 1878

Louis Pallertou
Lizzie Beornie

Louis Patterson
Lizzie Beorner
💍 1878/308

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

34
24

Port of Wellington
Wellington

for years
2 years

Wesleyan Church, Manners Street, Wellington

78/262

15 March 1878

Revd. Alex Reid, Wes

No	79
Date of Notice	15 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Pallertou	Lizzie Beornie
BDM Match (80%)	Louis Patterson	Lizzie Beorner
	💍 1878/308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Port of Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	for years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Manners Street, Wellington
Folio	78/262
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. Alex Reid, Wes

19 March 1878

George Henry Munt
Harriet-Lucy Ransom

George Henry Munt
Harriett Lucy Ransom
💍 1878/302

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker
Dressmaker

21
22

Wellington
Hutt

9 years
21 years

At the House of Mr. Wm Ransom, at the Hutt

78/231

19 March 1878

Revd. W. Thomas, Wes

No	80
Date of Notice	19 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Munt	Harriet-Lucy Ransom
BDM Match (95%)	George Henry Munt	Harriett Lucy Ransom
	💍 1878/302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker	Dressmaker
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hutt
Length of Residence	9 years	21 years
Marriage Place	At the House of Mr. Wm Ransom, at the Hutt
Folio	78/231
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. W. Thomas, Wes

22 March 1878

John Webber
Mary Watts
formerly Manley

John Webber
Mary Watts
💍 1878/1049

Widower
Widow

Labourer
Laundress

45
38

Wellington
do

4 months
4 years

The Congregational Chapel, Courtenay Place

78/1067

22 March 1878

Revd. F. T. Jewett, J. Moore, Congre

No	81
Date of Notice	22 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Webber	Mary Watts formerly Manley
BDM Match (69%)	John Webber	Mary Watts
	💍 1878/1049
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	45	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 months	4 years
Marriage Place	The Congregational Chapel, Courtenay Place
Folio	78/1067
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. F. T. Jewett, J. Moore, 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).