Intentions to Marry, 1880

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840392, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 374

District of Wellington Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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

154

9 July 1875

John Connelly
Hannah Fitzgerald

John Connolly
Hannah Fitzgerald
💍 1880/2904

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer

27
19

Wellington
do

2 years
16 mos.

St Mary of the Angels

871/1429

No one to give Consent

9 July 1875

Rev. P. Herrign

No	154
Date of Notice	9 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Connelly	Hannah Fitzgerald
BDM Match (96%)	John Connolly	Hannah Fitzgerald
	💍 1880/2904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	2 years	16 mos.
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels
Folio	871/1429
Consent	No one to give Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Herrign

155

12 July 1875

John Chapman
Emily Sarah Morgan

John Chapman Andrew
Emily Sarah Morgan
💍 1880/2901

Clerk in Holy orders
Spinster

full
full

do
do

3 days
3 days

St Peters Ch.

801

12 July 1875

archdeacon Stock

No	155
Date of Notice	12 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Chapman	Emily Sarah Morgan
BDM Match (82%)	John Chapman Andrew	Emily Sarah Morgan
	💍 1880/2901
Condition	Clerk in Holy orders	Spinster
Profession
Age	full	full
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Peters Ch.
Folio	801
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1875
Officiating Minister	archdeacon Stock

156

13 July 1875

James Henry Simmons
Susan Jane Couls

James Henry Simmons
Susan Jane Couls
💍 1880/2973

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

22
22

Mr. Geeks
Abel Smith St

7 years
15 mos

St Pauls Ch.

801/1469

13 July 1875

Rev. B.W. Harvey

No	156
Date of Notice	13 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Simmons	Susan Jane Couls
	💍 1880/2973
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Mr. Geeks	Abel Smith St
Length of Residence	7 years	15 mos
Marriage Place	St Pauls Ch.
Folio	801/1469
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.W. Harvey

157

14 July 1875

Alfred James Bradey
Elizabeth Prosser

Alfred James Bradey
Elizabeth Prosser
💍 1880/2900

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer

24
21

Johnsonville
do

7 years

St Peters Ch.

801/1475

14 July 1875

Archdeacon Stock

No	157
Date of Notice	14 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Bradey	Elizabeth Prosser
	💍 1880/2900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	do
Length of Residence	7 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Ch.
Folio	801/1475
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Stock

158

15 July 1875

Richard Anmiss
Eliza Jane Blewett

Richard Anniss
Eliza Jane Blewett
💍 1880/2906

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

28
25

Wellington
do

7 years
7 years

House Mrs. Milroy Mulroy [UNCLEAR]

801/1429

15 July 1875

Rev. Jas. McKee

No	158
Date of Notice	15 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Anmiss	Eliza Jane Blewett
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Anniss	Eliza Jane Blewett
	💍 1880/2906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House Mrs. Milroy Mulroy [UNCLEAR]
Folio	801/1429
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. McKee

159

16 July 1875

Alfred Geo Benson Godby
Ada Isabella Hargeraves

Alfred George Benson Godby
Ada Isabella Hargreaves
💍 1880/2908

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
20

do
do

Regisrars office

801/1431

Ellen Hargraves (Mother)

16 July 1875

Registrar of Wellington

No	159
Date of Notice	16 July 1875
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Geo Benson Godby	Ada Isabella Hargeraves
BDM Match (90%)	Alfred George Benson Godby	Ada Isabella Hargreaves
	💍 1880/2908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Regisrars office
Folio	801/1431
Consent	Ellen Hargraves (Mother)
Date of Certificate	16 July 1875
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Wellington

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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 1903. 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).