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 396

District of Wellington 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
302/19	24 November 1879	John Jason Marriott Celia Tuise	John Jason Marriott Celia Guise 💍 1879/3053	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	19 18	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Guise	79/2519	Father	24 November 1879	H. B. Redstone, United
303	26 November 1879	Henry Hurrell Maria Milner	Henry Arthur Hurrell Maria Milner 💍 1879/2476	Bachelor Spinster	Coachsmith Dressmaker	22 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	House of Mr. Milner	79/2521		26 November 1879	Samuel Costall, Bap.
304	26 November 1879	Andrew McGregor Emma Wallers	Andrew McGregor Emma Walters 💍 1879/2488	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	23 16	Wellington Wellington	5 years 6 months	House of Mr. Blows	79/2509	Mother	26 November 1879	W. A. Cotter, Pres.
305	27 November 1879	Alfred de Bathe Brandon Louisa Kebbell	Alfred de Bathe Mandon Louisa Kebbell 💍 1879/2844	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister, Solicitor	24 21	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Peters Church	79/2533		27 November 1879	Archdeacon Stock, C. of E.
306	24 November 1879	John Wood Wale Matilda Alice Martin	John Wood Wale Matilda Alice Marten 💍 1879/2509	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 24	Wellington Wellington	8 months 4 months	Registrars Office	79/2554		24 November 1879	Registrar
307	2 December 1879	W. H. P. Barber Emily Clarke	William Henry Peter Barber Emily Clarke 💍 1879/3014	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	22 25	Wellington Wellington	4 years 2 years	St. Johns	79/2572		2 December 1879	C. H. S. Nicholls, C. of E.
308	4 December 1879	Hans Hansen Mary Jane Miles	Claus Olausen Mary Jane Miles 💍 1879/3023	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	29 22	Wellington Wellington	6 years 1 year	Registrars Office	79/2557		4 December 1879	Registrar
309	5 December 1879	William George Hallstope Elizabeth Teacher	William George Wheeler Elizabeth Jane Gardner 💍 1880/3123 William Challinor Elizabeth Fryer 💍 1880/3166	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	22 19	Wellington Wellington	20 years 19 years	Wesleyan Church	79/2581	Father	5 December 1879	W. Kirk, Pres.
310	5 December 1879	Andrew William Johnson Mary Emma Clement	Andrew William Johnson Mary Emma Clement 💍 1879/3044	Bachelor	Cab Proprietor	24 21	Wellington Wellington	5 years 20 years	House of Mr. Highton	79/2601		5 December 1879	R. Dutton, Pres.
311	7 December 1879	Hugh Blackmore McGuire Sarah Antrobus		Master Mariner Spinster	Plasterer	25 19	Wellington Wellington	3 years 3 years	House of Rev. I. Paterson	79/2574		7 December 1879	Jas. Paterson, Pres.
312	8 December 1879	John Thomas Wollas Sarah Pell	John Thomas Follas Sarah Pell 💍 1879/3012	Bachelor	Butcher	22 20	Wellington Wellington	2 years 2 years	House of Rev. Insmond	79/2590		8 December 1879	J. Insmond, Pres.
313	9 December 1879	John Johnson Margaret Ellen Smith	John Johnson Wilkinson Margaret Ellen Smith 💍 1879/2513	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	24 19	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 years	St. Peters Church	79/2575	Father	9 December 1879	Archd. Stock, C. of E.

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).