Intentions to Marry, 1879

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840391, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 028

District of Wangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1879 Registrar James Thomson Reyburn

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

13 January 1879

Kenneth Campbell McKenzie
Christina McLeod

Kenneth Campbell McKenzie
Christina McLeod
💍 1879/122

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

52 years
34 years

Hikurangi, Wangarei
Hikurangi, Wangarei

10 months
15 years

In the residence of Mr. Donald McLeod, Hikurangi

79/12

13 January 1879

Revd. Alexander Thomson, Wangarei

No	92
Date of Notice	13 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Campbell McKenzie	Christina McLeod
	💍 1879/122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	52 years	34 years
Dwelling Place	Hikurangi, Wangarei	Hikurangi, Wangarei
Length of Residence	10 months	15 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. Donald McLeod, Hikurangi
Folio	79/12
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd. Alexander Thomson, Wangarei

21 January 1879

Taurau Kukupa
Taparoto

Taurau Kukupa
'Not Recorded' Taparoto
💍 1879/123

Widower
Widow

Native Chief

60 years
22 years

Maunu, Whangarei
Maunu, Wangarei

2 years
1 year

Office of the Registrar, Wangarei

79/13

21 January 1879

Herbert Logie, Registrar, Wangarei

No	93
Date of Notice	21 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Taurau Kukupa	Taparoto
BDM Match (67%)	Taurau Kukupa	'Not Recorded' Taparoto
	💍 1879/123
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Native Chief
Age	60 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Maunu, Whangarei	Maunu, Wangarei
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Wangarei
Folio	79/13
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Herbert Logie, Registrar, Wangarei

20 February 1879

John Low
Eliza Albania Fuller

John Low
Eliza Albania Fuller
💍 1879/142

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer

31
18 years

Wangarei
Wangarei

3 days
2 years

In the Settler's Hotel, Wangarei

79/8

Susannah Harriet Fuller, mother

20 February 1879

Revd. Alexander Thomson, Wangarei

No	94
Date of Notice	20 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Low	Eliza Albania Fuller
	💍 1879/142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer
Age	31	18 years
Dwelling Place	Wangarei	Wangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Settler's Hotel, Wangarei
Folio	79/8
Consent	Susannah Harriet Fuller, mother
Date of Certificate	20 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd. Alexander Thomson, Wangarei

20 March 1879

Louis Rose James
Fanny Richardson

Louis Rose James
Fanny Richardson
💍 1879/124

Widower
Spinster

Licensed Victualler

39
28

Wangarei
Wangarei

3 days
12 years

In the Office of the Registrar, Wangarei

79/14

20 March 1879

James Thomson Reyburn, Deputy Registrar, Wangarei

No	95
Date of Notice	20 March 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Rose James	Fanny Richardson
	💍 1879/124
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Licensed Victualler
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Wangarei	Wangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of the Registrar, Wangarei
Folio	79/14
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1879
Officiating Minister	James Thomson Reyburn, Deputy Registrar, Wangarei

24 March 1879

Charles Albert Gaze
Alison Simpson

Charles Albert Gaze
Alison Simpson
💍 1879/152

Bachelor
Spinster

Shopkeeper

24
21

Wangarei
Wangarei

5 Days
14 years

In the residence of Mr. William Simpson, Bay of Islands Road, Wangarei

79/43

24 March 1879

Revd. Allan W. Webb, of Auckland

No	96
Date of Notice	24 March 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert Gaze	Alison Simpson
	💍 1879/152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shopkeeper
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wangarei	Wangarei
Length of Residence	5 Days	14 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr. William Simpson, Bay of Islands Road, Wangarei
Folio	79/43
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd. Allan W. Webb, of Auckland

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).