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 084

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

17 January 1878

Burton John Daveney
Emily Matilda Margaret Abbott

Burton John Daveney
Emily Matilda Abbott
💍 1878/249

Widower
Spinster

Captain Late H.M.S.

43
24

Symonds St Auckland
Broad Meadows Cambridge

9 years
10 days

The Church of England at Cambridge

78/117

17 January 1878

Rev.d R de L Willis

No	24
Date of Notice	17 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Burton John Daveney	Emily Matilda Margaret Abbott
BDM Match (85%)	Burton John Daveney	Emily Matilda Abbott
	💍 1878/249
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Captain Late H.M.S.
Age	43	24
Dwelling Place	Symonds St Auckland	Broad Meadows Cambridge
Length of Residence	9 years	10 days
Marriage Place	The Church of England at Cambridge
Folio	78/117
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d R de L Willis

21 January 1878

Herbert Henry Taylor
Emma Nicholson

Herbert Henry Taylor
Emma Nicholson
💍 1878/161

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

22
19

Usually at Hamilton Auckland
Pitt St Auckland

3 days
4 years

Dwelling house of Mr. Nicholson.

78/113

William Richardson, Father.

21 January 1878

Rev.d W Taylor

No	25
Date of Notice	21 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Taylor	Emma Nicholson
	💍 1878/161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Usually at Hamilton Auckland	Pitt St Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Mr. Nicholson.
Folio	78/113
Consent	William Richardson, Father.
Date of Certificate	21 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d W Taylor

19 January 1878

Charles Fredee. [illegible] Dalin
Mary Fraser

Charles Frederick Dalin
Mary Fraser
💍 1878/20

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner
Milliner

31
21

Auckland
North Shore

2 weeks
13 years

The dwelling house of Mrs M.C. Parnell

78/49

19 January 1878

Rev.d D.S. Wallis Pres

No	26
Date of Notice	19 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Fredee. [illegible] Dalin	Mary Fraser
BDM Match (80%)	Charles Frederick Dalin	Mary Fraser
	💍 1878/20
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner	Milliner
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	North Shore
Length of Residence	2 weeks	13 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mrs M.C. Parnell
Folio	78/49
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d D.S. Wallis Pres

28 January 1878

George Henry Sakey
Elizabeth Proctor

George Henry Sakey
Elizabeth Proctor
💍 1878/27

Bachelor
Spinster

Pattern maker
Machinist

23
20

Howe Street Auckland
Chapel St Auckland

2 years
2 years

St Andrews Church Auckland

78/50

Isaac Proctor, Father.

28 January 1878

Rev.d A Carrick Pres

No	27
Date of Notice	28 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Sakey	Elizabeth Proctor
	💍 1878/27
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pattern maker	Machinist
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Howe Street Auckland	Chapel St Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Auckland
Folio	78/50
Consent	Isaac Proctor, Father.
Date of Certificate	28 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d A Carrick Pres

21 January 1878

Thomas Johnston
Fanny Elizabeth Deak

Thomas Johnston
Fanny Elizabeth Doak
💍 1878/177

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Dress-maker

35
22

Otahuhu
Franklin Rd. Auckland

12 years
2 years

St Matthews Church Auckland

78/105

21 January 1878

Rev.d B Burrows

No	28
Date of Notice	21 January 1878
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Johnston	Fanny Elizabeth Deak
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Johnston	Fanny Elizabeth Doak
	💍 1878/177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Dress-maker
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Otahuhu	Franklin Rd. Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	78/105
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1878
Officiating Minister	Rev.d B Burrows

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).