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 090

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

11 February 1878

Arnold William Mann
Helen Adams Heighway

Arnold William Mann
Helen Adams Heighway
💍 1878/134

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster

23
22

Usually at Kawa-Kawa, Auckland
Eden Terrace, Auckland

4 days
13 years

St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

78/86

11 February 1878

Revd. B. T. Dudley, CofE

No	54
Date of Notice	11 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold William Mann	Helen Adams Heighway
	💍 1878/134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Usually at Kawa-Kawa, Auckland	Eden Terrace, Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	13 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	78/86
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. B. T. Dudley, CofE

12 February 1878

Thomas Belcher
Rachel Catherine Hardinge

Thomas Belchar
Rachel Catherine Hardinge
💍 1878/133

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Machinist

21
19

Newton
Newton

19 years
4 years

St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland

78/85

Frederick Hardinge, Father

12 February 1878

Revd. B. T. Dudley, CofE

No	55
Date of Notice	12 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Belcher	Rachel Catherine Hardinge
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Belchar	Rachel Catherine Hardinge
	💍 1878/133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Machinist
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Newton	Newton
Length of Residence	19 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Sepulchre's Church, Auckland
Folio	78/85
Consent	Frederick Hardinge, Father
Date of Certificate	12 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. B. T. Dudley, CofE

13 February 1878

John Paxton Hall
Ann Wells

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Bachelor
Spinster

Mine Manager

45
33

Usually at Grahamstown, Auckland
North Shore, Auckland

3 days
about 12 years

The Dwelling house of Wm Wells, North Shore

13 February 1878

Revd. J. Bates, CofE

No	56
Date of Notice	13 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Paxton Hall	Ann Wells
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mine Manager
Age	45	33
Dwelling Place	Usually at Grahamstown, Auckland	North Shore, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	about 12 years
Marriage Place	The Dwelling house of Wm Wells, North Shore
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. J. Bates, CofE

13 February 1878

Eli Brown
Mary Daniels

Eli Brown
Mary Daniels
💍 1878/207

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer

40
44

Onehunga
Onehunga

4 years
16 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland

78/160

13 February 1878

John M Wayland, Regr.

No	57
Date of Notice	13 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eli Brown	Mary Daniels
	💍 1878/207
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer
Age	40	44
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Onehunga
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Auckland
Folio	78/160
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1878
Officiating Minister	John M Wayland, Regr.

13 February 1878

Conway Grey Murphy
Edith Mary Crago

Conway Grey Murphy
Edith Mary Crago
💍 1878/154

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Farmer's daughter

40
24

Flat Bush, Otahuhu
Near Otahuhu

11 years
4 years

St. John's Church, East Tamaki

78/98

13 February 1878

Revd. R. O. Hall, CofE

No	58
Date of Notice	13 February 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conway Grey Murphy	Edith Mary Crago
	💍 1878/154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Farmer's daughter
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Flat Bush, Otahuhu	Near Otahuhu
Length of Residence	11 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, East Tamaki
Folio	78/98
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1878
Officiating Minister	Revd. R. O. Hall, 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).