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 306

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 September 1879

No	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
49	7 July 1879	Walter Nicol Cathro Emily Somay	Walter Nico Cathro Emily Lomax 💍 1879/1805	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 20	Wanganui Wanganui	22 yrs 20 yrs	In the Presbyterian Church	79/1831		7 July 1879	James Treadwell Pres
50	7 July 1879	James Gluman Johanna Turney	James Clunan Johanna Twomey 💍 1879/1820	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	33 28	Wanganui Wanganui	9 mos 7 days	In the Roman Catholic Church Wanganui	79/1826		7 July 1879	G. H. Kirk R.C.
51	7 July 1879	Chas. Roger Beaumont Elizabeth Mary Collans	Charles Roger Beaumont Elizabeth Mary Bellamy 💍 1879/1806	Bachelor Spinster	Indenturer	26 18	Wanganui Wanganui	10 days 2 mos	In the residence of Mr. C. Sample Sahrka Wanganui	79/1809		7 July 1879	James Treadwell Pres
52	9 July 1879	Richard Jos. Clinton Catherine Rickets	Richard Joseph Clinton Catharine Ricketts 💍 1879/2885	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	34 21	Wanganui Maxwell Town	12 yrs 9 mos	In the Church of England Wanganui	79/1825		9 July 1879	T. H. Tudor Clergyman
53	15 July 1879	Michael Glynn Florence Hill	Michael Flynn Florence Old 💍 1879/3342	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 21	Wanganui Wanganui	12 yrs 20 yrs	In the Roman Catholic Church Wanganui	79/1825		15 July 1879	G. H. Kirk R.C.
54	21 July 1879	Joseph Walter Ludlow Agnes Carroll	Joseph Walter Ludlow Agnes Carroll 💍 1879/1789	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	24 22	Wanganui Wanganui	9 mos 7 mos	In the residence of R. R. Adams Harrison St. Wanganui	79/1816		21 July 1879	William Lee Wes.
55	22 July 1879	Henry Harrison Catherine Moon	Henry Harrison Caroline Moon 💍 1879/1788	Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker	30 18	Wanganui Wanganui	72 mos 18 mos	In the residence of Mr. T. Moon Campbell St. Wanganui	79/1817		22 July 1879	William Lee Wes.
56	22 July 1879	John McKenzie Mary Seaton	John McKenzie Mary Taylor 💍 1879/193 John McKenzie Mary Barnes 💍 1879/1807	Bachelor Widow	Baker	22 27	Wanganui Wanganui	3 yrs 6 mos	In the Presbyterian Manse Victoria Avenue, Wanganui	79/1836		22 July 1879	James Treadwell Pres.
57	29 July 1879	Francis Elias Ganavio Eliza Brown	Francis Charles Ganavio Eliza Brown 💍 1879/1798	Bachelor Widow	Cook	27 32	Wanganui Wanganui	4 mos 8 mos	In the Wesleyan Parsonage Wanganui	79/1818		29 July 1879	William Lee Wes.
58	9 August 1879	Joseph Davison Jane Marson	Joseph Davison Jane Marson 💍 1879/1808	Bachelor Spinster	Foreman	23 19	Wanganui Wanganui	4 yrs 18 mos	In the residence of Mr. Matthews Bell St. Wanganui	79/1819		9 August 1879	James Treadwell Pres.
59	11 August 1879	George Thorne Matilda Bell	George Thorne Matilda Bell 💍 1879/1809	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	31 29	Wanganui Wanganui	14 mos 8 days	In the residence of the Rev. W. Lee Wanganui	79/1818		11 August 1879	William Lee Wes.
60	11 August 1879	William George Acton Sarah Ann Johnston	William Wylie Sarah Ann Johnston 💍 1880/3126 William Mouldey Mary Ann Johnston 💍 1879/1324	Bachelor Spinster	Millman	22 19	Wanganui Wanganui	8 mos 4 wks	In the residence of Mr. C. Adams Harrison St. Wanganui	79/1820	Authority of father	11 August 1879	William Lee Wes.

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).