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 398

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1880

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
314	9 December 1880	Morris Michael Hyams HYAM written also Sophia Imman late Lyons	Morris Michael Hyams Sophia Ziman 💍 1879/3021	Bachelor Widow	General Dealer	34 23	Wellington Wellington	3 months 3 years	Synagogue, Wellington	79/2578		9 December 1880	H Van Staciman, Registrar, Wellington Heb[rew]
315	10 December 1880	George Mellins Mary Ann Hagan	George Wilkins Mary Ann Hagan 💍 1879/3016	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	24 22	Upper Hutt Upper Hutt	18 months 1 year	Registrars Office	79/2536		10 December 1880	Geo Grant, Registrar, Wellington
316	16 December 1880	Robert Russell Hester Maleep late Dash	Robert Russell Hester Mabey 💍 1879/2924	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	29 32	Lower Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church Hutt	79/2538		16 December 1880	Geo Frank Hills
317	17 December 1880	John William Keahy Celina Maria McKain	John William Leahy Selina Maria McKain 💍 1879/2472	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	28 19	Wellington Wellington	3 years 1 year	Primary School	79/2537	Mother	17 December 1880	Bishop Redwood
318	19 December 1880	Phillip Barnes Eleanor Shellard	Philip Barnes Eleanor Shellam 💍 1879/3013	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	29 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year 1 year	House of Reich	79/2541		19 December 1880	Jno Mours, Presbyterian
319	19 December 1880	George Henry Crower Emma Hobbs late Marshall	George Henry Crowe Emma Hobbs 💍 1880/3198	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	29 28	Karori Valley Johnsonville	3 years 1 year	Wesleyan Church	80/208		3 January 1881	N. I. Williams, Wesleyan
320	19 December 1880	Frederick Wm Hanagan Eliza E Blacklock	Frederick William Flanagan Eliza Ellen Blacklock 💍 1879/2494	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Servant	24 21	Wellington Wellington	1 year 4 months	House of Mr Blacklock	79/2539		19 January 1881	Jas Paterson, Presbyterian
321	22 December 1880	Henry Ed Tandy Margaret Cower	Henry Edward Tandy Margaret Curry 💍 1879/2473	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	32 22	Wellington Wellington	4 years 4 months	St Marys Cathedral	79/2518		22 December 1880	J McNamara, Roman Catholic
322	22 December 1880	John Edwin Lloyd Martha Dopley late Sellars	John Edwin Lloyd Martha Boesley 💍 1879/2696	Bachelor Widow	Carter	23 24	Wellington Lyall Bay	1 year 1 year	House of Sellars	79/3032		22 December 1880	C. S. Agg, Presbyterian
323	25 December 1880	Henry Malcott Climie Maggie Richmond	Henry Westcott Climie Maggie Richmond 💍 1879/3357	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	23 22	Wellington Wellington	3 days 1 year	House of Mr Climie	79/2541		25 December 1880	J Paterson, Presbyterian
324	23 December 1880	Joseph Cottrell Annie Canning	Joseph Cottrell Annie Canning 💍 1879/2470	Bachelor Spinster	Coal Proprietor	26 20	Wellington Wellington	6 years 1 year	St Peters Church	79/2515		23 December 1880	Arch Stock, Church of England
325	23 December 1880	Robert Hacker Mary Ellen Kershaw	Robert Walker Mary Ellen Kershaw 💍 1879/2479	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	25 20	Wellington Wellington	4 years 5.5 years	St Pauls	79/2556		23 December 1880	B. W. Harvey, Church of England

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).