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 377

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

174

7 July 1870

Alfred Jointon
Margaret Nash

Alfred Tointon
Margret Nash
💍 1880/2972

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

30
22

Wellington
do

11 years
3 days

St Mary of the Angels

77/137

7 July 1870

Foster P Kerrigan

No	174
Date of Notice	7 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Jointon	Margaret Nash
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Tointon	Margret Nash
	💍 1880/2972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	11 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels
Folio	77/137
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Foster P Kerrigan

175

7 July 1870

Jeremiah Hurley
Eva Teressa Lynch

Jeremiah Hurley
Eva Teresa Lynch
💍 1880/2905

Widower
Spinster

Schoolmaster

33
23

Upper Hutt
Pakakariki

3 years
1½ years

House of Mrs Lynch Pakakariki

80/128

7 July 1870

Rev. Francis Garavel

No	175
Date of Notice	7 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Hurley	Eva Teressa Lynch
BDM Match (97%)	Jeremiah Hurley	Eva Teresa Lynch
	💍 1880/2905
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Upper Hutt	Pakakariki
Length of Residence	3 years	1½ years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Lynch Pakakariki
Folio	80/128
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Garavel

176

7 July 1870

John Mason
Christina Lawson

John Frederick Mason
Christina Lawson
💍 1880/2282

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
21

Hutt
Hutt

4 years

St James' Hutt

80/125

7 July 1870

Rev. Thos Fancourt

No	176
Date of Notice	7 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mason	Christina Lawson
BDM Match (75%)	John Frederick Mason	Christina Lawson
	💍 1880/2282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Hutt	Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	St James' Hutt
Folio	80/125
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos Fancourt

177

9 July 1870

Chas Tutchen
Sarah Ann Gard

Charles Tutchen
Sarah Ann Gard
💍 1880/2113

Bachelor
Widow

Dairyman

52
53

Wellington
do

4 years
2 years

Wesleyan Ch Adelaide Rd

80/129

9 July 1870

Rev. Wm Kirk

No	177
Date of Notice	9 July 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Chas Tutchen	Sarah Ann Gard
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Tutchen	Sarah Ann Gard
	💍 1880/2113
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Dairyman
Age	52	53
Dwelling Place	Wellington	do
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Ch Adelaide Rd
Folio	80/129
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Kirk

178

12 Aug 1870

George Peek
Annie Isaac Emery

George Peck
Annie Isicca Emery
💍 1880/2115

Widower
Widow

Upholsterer

26
31

do
do

6 years
7 years

House of Mrs Peek Frederick A.

80/149

12 Aug 1870

Rev. J.B. Redstone

No	178
Date of Notice	12 Aug 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Peek	Annie Isaac Emery
BDM Match (87%)	George Peck	Annie Isicca Emery
	💍 1880/2115
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Peek Frederick A.
Folio	80/149
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 Aug 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. J.B. Redstone

179

13 Aug 1870

Ernest Hasting Snow
Charlotte Slight Niber

Ernest Hastings Snow
Charlotte Elizabeth Wiber
💍 1880/2974

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
28

do
do

3 days
6 years

St Pauls

80/150

13 Aug 1870

Rev. B.W. Harvey

No	179
Date of Notice	13 Aug 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Hasting Snow	Charlotte Slight Niber
BDM Match (84%)	Ernest Hastings Snow	Charlotte Elizabeth Wiber
	💍 1880/2974
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls
Folio	80/150
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 Aug 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.W. Harvey

180

13 Aug 1870

Alfred Henry Miles
Emma Rowlands

Alfred Henry Miles
Emma Rowlands
💍 1880/2975

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

28
24

do
do

4 years
4 years

St Pauls

80/151

13 Aug 1870

Rev. B.W. Harvey

No	180
Date of Notice	13 Aug 1870
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Miles	Emma Rowlands
	💍 1880/2975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	do	do
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls
Folio	80/151
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 Aug 1870
Officiating Minister	Rev. B.W. Harvey

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).