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 252

District of Turanga 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

176

3 January 1878

Edmond Villars
Norah Murphy

Edmond Villars
Norah Murphy
💍 1878/208

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk to the Bench
Domestic

32
22

Ormond
Gisborne

7 years
2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

78/161

3 January 1878

The Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

No	176
Date of Notice	3 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond Villars	Norah Murphy
	💍 1878/208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk to the Bench	Domestic
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Ormond	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne
Folio	78/161
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1878
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages at Gisborne

177

26 January 1878

Edward John Dudley
Johanna Katrine Illingsen

Edward John Dudley
Johanna Katrine Ellingsen
💍 1878/213

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

29
22

Tolago Bay
Tolago Bay

5 years
2 years

The Residence of Mr Henry Skinner at Tolago Bay

78/166

26 January 1878

The Venerable W. L. Williams, CofE

No	177
Date of Notice	26 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Dudley	Johanna Katrine Illingsen
BDM Match (98%)	Edward John Dudley	Johanna Katrine Ellingsen
	💍 1878/213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Tolago Bay	Tolago Bay
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr Henry Skinner at Tolago Bay
Folio	78/166
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1878
Officiating Minister	The Venerable W. L. Williams, CofE

178

28 January 1878

Frederick Holford
Sarah Bradford

Fredrick Holford
Sarah Burford
💍 1878/211

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Dressmaker

35
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 years
6 months

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

78/164

27 January 1878

The Revd Edward Williams, CofE

No	178
Date of Notice	28 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Holford	Sarah Bradford
BDM Match (86%)	Fredrick Holford	Sarah Burford
	💍 1878/211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Dressmaker
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	78/164
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1878
Officiating Minister	The Revd Edward Williams, CofE

179

31 January 1878

Henry Featherstone
Riwa Pau

Henry Fetherston
Riwa Pou
💍 1878/204

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

43
30

Te Apera, Poverty Bay
Te Apera

7 years
12 years

The Building known as the Old Court House, Gisborne

78/149

31 January 1878

The Revd Euloge Reigner, RC

No	179
Date of Notice	31 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Featherstone	Riwa Pau
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Fetherston	Riwa Pou
	💍 1878/204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Te Apera, Poverty Bay	Te Apera
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	The Building known as the Old Court House, Gisborne
Folio	78/149
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1878
Officiating Minister	The Revd Euloge Reigner, RC

180

6 February 1878

Roderick MacDonald
Barbara Davis

Roderick McDonald
Barbara Davis
💍 1878/215

Bachelor
Widow

Shepherd

28
28

Waikohu, Poverty Bay
Waikohu, Poverty Bay

3 years
6 weeks

The residence of Mr Donald McLeod at Wairere-a-taki

78/150

6 February 1878

The Revd W. Storpham Root, Pres

No	180
Date of Notice	6 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick MacDonald	Barbara Davis
BDM Match (95%)	Roderick McDonald	Barbara Davis
	💍 1878/215
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shepherd
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Waikohu, Poverty Bay	Waikohu, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Donald McLeod at Wairere-a-taki
Folio	78/150
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1878
Officiating Minister	The Revd W. Storpham Root, Pres

181

26 February 1878

Christopher Haydon McLean
'Maclean' written in pencil
Margaret Ellen Williams

Christopher Hayden Maclean
Margaret Ellen Williams
💍 1878/212

Bachelor
Spinster

Banker

29
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 days
1 year

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

78/165

26 February 1878

The Right Revd Edward Craig Stuart, CofE

No	181
Date of Notice	26 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Haydon McLean 'Maclean' written in pencil	Margaret Ellen Williams
BDM Match (94%)	Christopher Hayden Maclean	Margaret Ellen Williams
	💍 1878/212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Banker
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	78/165
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1878
Officiating Minister	The Right Revd Edward Craig Stuart, CofE

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).