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 395

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
289/79	8 November 1879	Andrew Nelson Corpl Emma Strong	Andrew Nelson Corepb Emma Strong 💍 1879/2500	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	36 16	Wellington Wellington	6 yrs 6 yrs	Registrar's Office	79/2546	John Strong, father	8 November 1879	Registrar
290/79	11 November 1879	Thomas Labeller Ellen Louise Stapes	Thomas Lidbetter Ellen Louise Staples 💍 1879/2505	Widower Spinster	Notary Public	56 31	Wellington Wellington	7 days 7 days	Registrar's Office	79/2550		11 November 1879	Registrar
291	14 November 1879	Peter Jensen Maria Thomas	Peter Jensen Maria Thomas 💍 1879/2506	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	39 23	Wellington Wellington	4 yrs 3 yrs	Registrar's Office	79/2551		14 November 1879	Registrar
292	12 November 1879	Francis Bradey Rosetta Lucy Hilton late Marliu	Francis Bradey Rosetta Lucy Kilfoy 💍 1879/2487	Widower Widow	Farmer	53 34	Pahautanui Wellington	4 years 5 years	House of Jas Barnard	79/2508		12 November 1879	W. S. Potter, Prim.
293	13 November 1879	David Rean Fanny Champion Scobies	David Kean Fanny Champion Scoble 💍 1879/2503	Bachelor Spinster	Working Jeweller	26 24	Wellington Wellington	3 mos 11 days	Registrar's Office	79/2579		13 November 1879	Registrar
294	15 November 1879	Carlo Rossi Maria Mancini	Carlo Fopi Maria Mancini 💍 1879/2507	Bachelor Spinster	Fish Salesman	28 25	Wellington Wellington	3 mos 3 mos	Registrar's Office	79/2552		15 November 1879	Registrar
295	18 November 1879	Joseph Faul Elizabeth Jane Cogden	Joseph Paul Elizabeth Jane Cogdon 💍 1879/2469 Joseph Cantwell Elizabeth Mary Ryan 💍 1879/1192	Widower Spinster	Draper	40 20	Wellington Wellington	6 mos 4 yrs	St Peters	79/2574		18 November 1879	Archd Stock, CoE
296	18 November 1879	James McInerney Rachel Hall	James McInerney Rachel Hall 💍 1879/3017	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	23 22	Wellington Wellington	1 yr 6 mos	St Mary	79/2574		18 November 1879	P. Kerrigan, RC
297	4 December 1879	Albert Ernest Frederick Issh Annie Ward	Albert Ernest Frederick Tesch Annie Ward 💍 1879/3005	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	28 21	Wellington Wellington	6 yrs 4 yrs	Registrar's Office	79/2555		4 December 1879	Registrar
298	24 November 1879	Francis Downer Jane Russell	Francis Downer Jane Russell McNaughton 💍 1879/2516	Bachelor Spinster	Sailmaker	28 29	Wellington Wellington	7 mos 9 mos	Scotch Church	79/2538		24 November 1879	Hillis H, Pres
300	24 November 1879	James Redding Mary Anne Ray	James Fleming Mary Jane Radford 💍 1879/2033 James Kiddy Moxham Mary Ann Gray 💍 1879/3030	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 24	Wellington Wellington	20 yrs 5 yrs	Wesleyan Church	79/2580		24 November 1879	W. Kirk, Wes
301	24 November 1879	Nicholas Othea Mary Gertrude Catley	Nicholas O'Shea Mary Gertrude Ruth Catley 💍 1879/2431	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 19	Karori Wellington	12 mos 5 yrs	Church of St Mary	79/2415	Father	24 November 1879	P. Kerrigan, RC

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).