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 308

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 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
72	1 October 1879	Kajtan Rehheli Augusta Keuzer	Kajtan Keppels Augusta Kenzer 💍 1879/2873	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	22 16	Wanganui Wanganui	2 yrs. 3 yrs.	Residence of Edward Keuzer		Edward Keuzer, father	1 October 1879	William See
73	10 October 1879	Louis Wm. Ghaldicott Helena Martin	Louis William Holdecott Helena Martin 💍 1879/2424	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	21 18	Wanganui Wanganui	2 yrs. 18 yrs.	In the Wesleyan Church	79/2469		10 October 1879	T. L. Tudor
74	14 October 1879	Arthur Scott Lizzie Cunningham	Arthur Hibbs Lizzie Cunningham 💍 1879/2429	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 19	Wanganui Wanganui	9 yrs. 4 mos.	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	79/2474		14 October 1879	F. W. Woon, Regr.
75	4 November 1879	John Serbis Eugenie Blondy	John Le rois Eugenie Blondey 💍 1879/2841	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	29 25	Wanganui Wanganui	7 mos. 10 mos.	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	79/2230		4 November 1879	F. W. Woon, Regr.
76	12 November 1879	George Layfield Jemima Atkinson	George Leyfield Hannah Atkinson 💍 1879/2433	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	38 39	Wanganui Wanganui	4 yrs. 20 yrs.	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	79/2475		12 November 1879	F. W. Woon, Regr.
77	12 November 1879	Hy. Thos. F. Flaygh Lydia Burr	Henry Thomas Freemantle Flyger Lydia Burr 💍 1879/2842	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	22 23	Wanganui Wanganui	9 days 3 yrs.	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	79/2231		12 November 1879	F. W. Woon, Regr.
78	14 November 1879	William Harvey Agnes H. Allisisham	William Harvey Agnes Harriet Callingham 💍 1879/2843 William Harvey Ann Esther Naven Kirkwood 💍 1879/3302	Widower Widow	Dealer	60 46	Wanganui Wanganui	18 mos. 8 mos.	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	79/2232		14 November 1879	F. W. Woon, Regr.
79	17 November 1879	John Robertson Annie Anderson	John Robertson Annie Anderson 💍 1879/2435	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	34 21	Aramoho Wanganui	6 mos. 4 days	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	79/2499		17 November 1879	F. W. Woon, Regr.
80	17 November 1879	James John Ruth Harding	James John Crawford Ruth Harding 💍 1879/2426	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	31 20	Wanganui Wanganui	2 yrs. 20 yrs.	In the Church of England, Wanganui	79/2476		17 November 1879	T. L. Tudor
81	20 November 1879	Helmer Wm. Suling Mary Collinson	Helmer William Seeling Mary Collinson 💍 1879/2443	Bachelor Widow	Sawyer	38 34	Wanganui Wanganui	6 yrs. 6 yrs.	In the Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	79/2480		20 November 1879	F. W. Woon, Regr.
82	21 November 1879	William Smiles Augusta A. Bows	William Pinches Augusta Arethusa Gower 💍 1879/2425	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	25 26	Wanganui Wanganui	4 yrs. 20 yrs.	In the Church of England, Wanganui	79/2470		21 November 1879	T. L. Tudor
83	24 November 1879	Austin Jos. Whittaker Maria Jos. Suerin	Austin Joseph Whittaker Maria Josephine Guerin 💍 1879/2428	Bachelor Spinster	Draper Schoolmistress	28 24	Hawera Wanganui	9 mos. 1 month	In St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	79/2473		24 November 1879	G. A. Kirk, Regr.

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).