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 570

District of Kumara Quarter ending 31 March 1879 Registrar R. W. McEnnis

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

6 January 1879

Patrick McNamara
Margaret Sullivan

Patrick McNamara
Margaret Quinlinan
💍 1879/482

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

40 years
30 years

Kumara
Kumara

12 days
12 months

At the R. C. Church at Kumara

79/379

6 January 1879

Rev. M. McGaughey

No	50
Date of Notice	6 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick McNamara	Margaret Sullivan
BDM Match (89%)	Patrick McNamara	Margaret Quinlinan
	💍 1879/482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	40 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	12 days	12 months
Marriage Place	At the R. C. Church at Kumara
Folio	79/379
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. McGaughey

27 January 1879

Charles Ward Simpson
Sarah Ann Swartz

Charles Daniel Sumsion
Sarah Ann Swartz
💍 1879/505

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
None

41 years
38 years

Kumara
Kumara

1 year
1 year

Trinity Church Kumara

79/378

27 January 1879

Rev. J. M. Stack

No	51
Date of Notice	27 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ward Simpson	Sarah Ann Swartz
BDM Match (82%)	Charles Daniel Sumsion	Sarah Ann Swartz
	💍 1879/505
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	None
Age	41 years	38 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Trinity Church Kumara
Folio	79/378
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Stack

27 January 1879

Ross Cunningham
Margaret Quinn

Ross Cunningham
Margaret Quinn
💍 1879/483

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Store Keeper

47 years
37 years

Dillman's
Dillman's

2 years
14 months

R. C. Church Kumara

79/380

27 January 1879

Rev. M. McGaughey

No	52
Date of Notice	27 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ross Cunningham	Margaret Quinn
	💍 1879/483
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Store Keeper
Age	47 years	37 years
Dwelling Place	Dillman's	Dillman's
Length of Residence	2 years	14 months
Marriage Place	R. C. Church Kumara
Folio	79/380
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. McGaughey

27 January 1879

Patrick McCormack
Mary Flanagan

Patrick McCormick
Mary Flannigan
💍 1879/484

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
None

34 years
17 years

Kumara
Kumara

2 years
2 years

R. C. Church Kumara

79/381

Michael Flanagan, Father of Mary Flanagan

27 January 1879

Rev. M. McGaughey

No	53
Date of Notice	27 January 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick McCormack	Mary Flanagan
BDM Match (90%)	Patrick McCormick	Mary Flannigan
	💍 1879/484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	None
Age	34 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	R. C. Church Kumara
Folio	79/381
Consent	Michael Flanagan, Father of Mary Flanagan
Date of Certificate	27 January 1879
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. McGaughey

10 February 1879

John Hannah
Ellen Lypham

John Hannah
Ellen Upham
💍 1879/504

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
None

23 years
18 years

Kumara
Kumara

2 years
2 years 5 months

Church of England Kumara

79/374

Francis Lypham, father of Ellen Lypham

10 February 1879

Rev. P. A. Scott

No	54
Date of Notice	10 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hannah	Ellen Lypham
BDM Match (92%)	John Hannah	Ellen Upham
	💍 1879/504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	None
Age	23 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years 5 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Kumara
Folio	79/374
Consent	Francis Lypham, father of Ellen Lypham
Date of Certificate	10 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Scott

11 February 1879

Jeremiah O'Sullivan
Bridget O'Neill

Jeremiah O'Sullivan
Bridget O'Neill
💍 1879/485

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

30 years
22 years

Kumara
Kumara

2 years
2 years

R. C. Church Kumara

79/382

11 February 1879

Rev. M. McGaughey

No	55
Date of Notice	11 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah O'Sullivan	Bridget O'Neill
	💍 1879/485
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	30 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	R. C. Church Kumara
Folio	79/382
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. McGaughey

12 February 1879

John Roach
Clara Eaton

John Nash
Clara Eaton
💍 1879/502

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Servant

35 years
25 years

Kumara
Kumara

18 months
10 months

At office of Registrar at Kumara

79/375

12 February 1879

J. R. Birch, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	12 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roach	Clara Eaton
BDM Match (85%)	John Nash	Clara Eaton
	💍 1879/502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Servant
Age	35 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Kumara	Kumara
Length of Residence	18 months	10 months
Marriage Place	At office of Registrar at Kumara
Folio	79/375
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1879
Officiating Minister	J. R. Birch, Registrar

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).