Intentions to Marry, 1867

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840379, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 277

District of Napier 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

158

20 July 1867

Henry Martyn Hamlin
Eliza Webb

Henry Martyn Hamlin
Eliza Webb
💍 1867/6505

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer

29
19

Clive
Clive

5 years
12 years

at the residence of Francis S. Hamlin

734

Francis S. Hamlin, guardian

23 July 1867

Rev. S. Townsend of France

No	158
Date of Notice	20 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Martyn Hamlin	Eliza Webb
	💍 1867/6505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Francis S. Hamlin
Folio	734
Consent	Francis S. Hamlin, guardian
Date of Certificate	23 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Townsend of France

159

22 July 1867

Thomas Butler
Rose Carmichael

Thomas Miller
Rose Carmichael
💍 1867/6484

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour
Domestic Servant

23
21

Meanee Flat
Hastings Street Napier

3 years
6 mo

at the residence of John Carmichael Meanee Flat

726

24 July 1867

Rev. John A. Torrance of Meanee Flats

No	159
Date of Notice	22 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Butler	Rose Carmichael
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Miller	Rose Carmichael
	💍 1867/6484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour	Domestic Servant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Meanee Flat	Hastings Street Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	6 mo
Marriage Place	at the residence of John Carmichael Meanee Flat
Folio	726
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. John A. Torrance of Meanee Flats

160

26 July 1867

Samuel Locke
Caroline Fanny Rhodes

Samuel Locke
Caroline Fanny Rhodes
💍 1867/6517

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

30
19

Napier
Clive

7 years
2 years

Episcopal Church Napier

938

Henry Rhodes, Father

26 July 1867

Bishop Williams

No	160
Date of Notice	26 July 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Locke	Caroline Fanny Rhodes
	💍 1867/6517
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Clive
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Episcopal Church Napier
Folio	938
Consent	Henry Rhodes, Father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1867
Officiating Minister	Bishop Williams

161

2 August 1867

George Smith
Jane Bolton

George Smith
Jane Hollow
💍 1867/6520

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewer
Domestic Servant

30
20

Napier
Shakespeare Road Napier

6 months
2 months

Registrar's Office Napier

939

3 August 1867

E. Catchpool, Registrar for the District of Napier

No	161
Date of Notice	2 August 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smith	Jane Bolton
BDM Match (86%)	George Smith	Jane Hollow
	💍 1867/6520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewer	Domestic Servant
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Shakespeare Road Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	939
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1867
Officiating Minister	E. Catchpool, Registrar for the District of Napier

162

9 August 1867

William Calcott
Agnes Rankine

William Calcott
Agnes Rankine
💍 1867/6451

Bachelor
Spinster

Overseer
Domestic Servant

36
24

Waimarama
Clyde Road Napier

7 years
2 years

at the residence of Henry Calcott from Carlyle Street Napier

951

10 August 1867

Rev. D. Sidey, Minister of Napier C.C. Pres.

No	162
Date of Notice	9 August 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Calcott	Agnes Rankine
	💍 1867/6451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Overseer	Domestic Servant
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Waimarama	Clyde Road Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Henry Calcott from Carlyle Street Napier
Folio	951
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Sidey, Minister of Napier C.C. Pres.

163

26 August 1867

Charles Palmer
Mary Anne Sullivan

Charles Edward Palmer
Mary Ann Sullivan
💍 1867/6508

Bachelor
Spinster

Livery Stable Keeper
Domestic Servant

27
17

Hastings Street Napier
Hastings Street Napier

5 years
13 years

Episcopal Church Napier

955

Mary Anne McDermot, Mother

27 August 1867

Rev. S. Townsend of Meeanee

No	163
Date of Notice	26 August 1867
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Palmer	Mary Anne Sullivan
BDM Match (81%)	Charles Edward Palmer	Mary Ann Sullivan
	💍 1867/6508
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Livery Stable Keeper	Domestic Servant
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Hastings Street Napier	Hastings Street Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Episcopal Church Napier
Folio	955
Consent	Mary Anne McDermot, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 August 1867
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Townsend of Meeanee

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).