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 094

District of Auckland 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

28 February 1878

Lawrence Fitzpatrick
Maria Ann Hattaway

Laurence Fitzpatrick
Maria Ann Hattaway
💍 1878/172

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Farmer's daughter

25
23

Pakuranga
Otara

2 months
23 years

The dwellinghouse of Mr Robert Hattaway, Otara

78/100

20 March 1878

Rev. R.A. Hall, [illegible]

No	44
Date of Notice	28 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Fitzpatrick	Maria Ann Hattaway
BDM Match (98%)	Laurence Fitzpatrick	Maria Ann Hattaway
	💍 1878/172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Farmer's daughter
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Pakuranga	Otara
Length of Residence	2 months	23 years
Marriage Place	The dwellinghouse of Mr Robert Hattaway, Otara
Folio	78/100
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. R.A. Hall, [illegible]

28 February 1878

Thomas James Medland
Elizabeth Stringer

Thomas James Medland
Elizabeth Stringer
💍 1878/149

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright
Dressmaker

35
24

Otahuhu
Otahuhu

2 months
15 years

The Wesleyan Church at Otahuhu

78/99

20 February 1878

Rev. J. Robertson, Congre

No	45
Date of Notice	28 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Medland	Elizabeth Stringer
	💍 1878/149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Dressmaker
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Otahuhu
Length of Residence	2 months	15 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church at Otahuhu
Folio	78/99
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Robertson, Congre

1 March 1878

Patrick Brophy
Bridget Doyle

Patrick Brophy
Bridget Doyle
💍 1878/3325

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Servant

23
23

The Lake, North Shore
Dedwood

10 months
12 years

St Francis de Sales Church, Auckland

3403/1878

1 March 1878

Rev. W. McDonald, [illegible]

No	46
Date of Notice	1 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Brophy	Bridget Doyle
	💍 1878/3325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Servant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	The Lake, North Shore	Dedwood
Length of Residence	10 months	12 years
Marriage Place	St Francis de Sales Church, Auckland
Folio	3403/1878
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McDonald, [illegible]

2 March 1878

George Strong Maclean
Jessie Motion

Geoffrey St Every Maclean
Jessie Motion
💍 1878/156

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
25

Auckland
Western Springs, Auckland

16 years
25 years

St Matthews Church

78/108

2 March 1878

Rev. R. Burrows, [illegible]

No	47
Date of Notice	2 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Strong Maclean	Jessie Motion
BDM Match (80%)	Geoffrey St Every Maclean	Jessie Motion
	💍 1878/156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Western Springs, Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church
Folio	78/108
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Burrows, [illegible]

4 March 1878

Arthur Henry Wood Hill
Catherine Macauley

Arthur Henry Wood Hill
Catherine McAulay
💍 1878/29

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

27
21

Victoria St, Auckland
Victoria St, Auckland

3 years
16 years

St James's Church, Auckland

78/52

4 March 1878

Rev. B.T. Macnicol, Pres

No	48
Date of Notice	4 March 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Wood Hill	Catherine Macauley
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Henry Wood Hill	Catherine McAulay
	💍 1878/29
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Victoria St, Auckland	Victoria St, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St James's Church, Auckland
Folio	78/52
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.T. Macnicol, Pres

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).