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 856

District of Dunedin Quarter ending 31 March 1879 Registrar Archibald Reid Wee

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

1 February 1879

Henry Edward Muir
Annie louise Black

Henry Edward Muir
Annie Louise Black
💍 1879/29

Bachelor
Spinster

compositor
Domestic Servant

26 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

4 years
3 years

In Knox Church

79/1680

Alexander Black father of minor

1 February 1879

Revd Dr Stuart O.S.S.

No	44
Date of Notice	1 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edward Muir	Annie louise Black
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Edward Muir	Annie Louise Black
	💍 1879/29
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	compositor	Domestic Servant
Age	26 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	In Knox Church
Folio	79/1680
Consent	Alexander Black father of minor
Date of Certificate	1 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Stuart O.S.S.

3 February 1879

John Thomas Brown
Agnes Johnston

John Thomas Brown
Agnes Johnston
💍 1879/756

Bachelor
Spinster

Messenger
Domestic Servant

23 years
21 years

Dunedin
Linden

6 years
4 weeks

In the house of John Brown York Place

79/1624

3 February 1879

Revd Dr Copeland O.I.S.

No	45
Date of Notice	3 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Brown	Agnes Johnston
	💍 1879/756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Messenger	Domestic Servant
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Linden
Length of Residence	6 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of John Brown York Place
Folio	79/1624
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Copeland O.I.S.

3 February 1879

Thomas Bulling
Sarah Ann Walton

Thomas Culling
Sarah Anne Walton
💍 1879/798

Widower
Widow

Printer

46 years
39 years

Dunedin
Nevada

6 years
2 years

In the house of Edward Hulland

79/1608

3 February 1879

Revd Dr Roseby Congre

No	46
Date of Notice	3 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bulling	Sarah Ann Walton
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Culling	Sarah Anne Walton
	💍 1879/798
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Printer
Age	46 years	39 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Nevada
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Edward Hulland
Folio	79/1608
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Roseby Congre

4 February 1879

William Soltau Pillans
Mary Agnes Halliwell

William Soltan Pillars
Mary Agnes Halliwell
💍 1879/26

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

29 years
20 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
5 weeks

In the house of Thomas Halliwell High Street

79/1627

Thomas Halliwell father of minor

4 February 1879

Revd Dr Roseby Congre

No	47
Date of Notice	4 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Soltau Pillans	Mary Agnes Halliwell
BDM Match (95%)	William Soltan Pillars	Mary Agnes Halliwell
	💍 1879/26
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	29 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Thomas Halliwell High Street
Folio	79/1627
Consent	Thomas Halliwell father of minor
Date of Certificate	4 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Roseby Congre

4 February 1879

Silas Spragg
Alice Robertine Fenwick

Silas Spragg
Alice Robertine Fenwick
💍 1879/751

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

24 years
17 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 years
17 years

In All Saints Church

79/1650

no person in the Colony to give consent to minor

4 February 1879

Revd E. G. Edwards

No	48
Date of Notice	4 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Silas Spragg	Alice Robertine Fenwick
	💍 1879/751
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	24 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church
Folio	79/1650
Consent	no person in the Colony to give consent to minor
Date of Certificate	4 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd E. G. Edwards

5 February 1879

Silas Hoare
Jemima Greive

Silas Hoare
Jemima Grieve
💍 1879/25

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Servant

27 years
22 years

Dunedin
Dunedin

3 days
4 weeks

In the house of Henry Rowlandson

79/1646

5 February 1879

Revd Dr Roseby Congle

No	49
Date of Notice	5 February 1879
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Silas Hoare	Jemima Greive
BDM Match (92%)	Silas Hoare	Jemima Grieve
	💍 1879/25
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Servant
Age	27 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Henry Rowlandson
Folio	79/1646
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1879
Officiating Minister	Revd Dr Roseby Congle

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).