Intentions to Marry, 1868

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840380, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 297

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1868 Registrar J. M. Tabuteau

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

203

23 July 1868

Henry Stevens
Amy Hyde

[No matching marriage registration has been located]

Widower
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic

34
32

Hastings Street, Napier
Havelock, Napier

4 years
2 years

At the residence of Mr Garry, Havelock

23 July 1868

To Rev. J. McMichael Meanee

No	203
Date of Notice	23 July 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stevens	Amy Hyde
BDM Match (10%)
	💍 [No matching marriage registration has been located]
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Hastings Street, Napier	Havelock, Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr Garry, Havelock
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1868
Officiating Minister	To Rev. J. McMichael Meanee

204

27 July 1868

John Scott Black
Margaret McClure

John Scott Black
Margaret McLure
💍 1868/7724

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

33
26

Wairoa, Napier
Napier

2 years
1 week

At the Presbyterian Church, Tennyson St, Napier

68/1067

27 July 1868

To Rev G Morice, Napier

No	204
Date of Notice	27 July 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Scott Black	Margaret McClure
BDM Match (94%)	John Scott Black	Margaret McLure
	💍 1868/7724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Wairoa, Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	At the Presbyterian Church, Tennyson St, Napier
Folio	68/1067
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1868
Officiating Minister	To Rev G Morice, Napier

205

28 July 1868

Thomas Sanders
Emma Lee

Thomas Sanders
Emma Lee
💍 1868/7778

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer
Nil

26
26

Meanee, Napier
Waipawa, Napier

3 months
3 months

At the Episcopalian Church, Tennyson Street, Napier

68/1086

28 July 1868

To Rev. J. Townsend, Napier

No	205
Date of Notice	28 July 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sanders	Emma Lee
	💍 1868/7778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer	Nil
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Meanee, Napier	Waipawa, Napier
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	At the Episcopalian Church, Tennyson Street, Napier
Folio	68/1086
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1868
Officiating Minister	To Rev. J. Townsend, Napier

206

8 August 1868

James Bush
Julia Bridget Minahan

James Bush
Julia Bridget Minahan
💍 1868/4856

Bachelor
Widow

Sailor
Dressmaker

42
34

Napier
White Rd. Napier

4 years
1 1/2 years

At the Roman Catholic Church, Shakespere Road, Napier

8 August 1868

To Rev. J. Forest, Napier

No	206
Date of Notice	8 August 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bush	Julia Bridget Minahan
	💍 1868/4856
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sailor	Dressmaker
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Napier	White Rd. Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	At the Roman Catholic Church, Shakespere Road, Napier
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1868
Officiating Minister	To Rev. J. Forest, Napier

207

10 August 1868

George Love
Mary Jane Friend

George Love
Mary Jane Friend
💍 1868/7787

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Nil

24
18

Clive, Napier
Meanee, Napier

6 months
3 years

At the Episcopalian Church, Tennyson Street, Napier

68/1089

Sarah Ann Guppy, Mother

10 August 1868

To Rev. J. Townsend, Napier

No	207
Date of Notice	10 August 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Love	Mary Jane Friend
	💍 1868/7787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Nil
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Clive, Napier	Meanee, Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	At the Episcopalian Church, Tennyson Street, Napier
Folio	68/1089
Consent	Sarah Ann Guppy, Mother
Date of Certificate	10 August 1868
Officiating Minister	To Rev. J. Townsend, Napier

208

25 August 1868

James Dempsey
Mary Gilligan

James Dempsey
Mary Gilligan
💍 1868/7739

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

27
18

Meanee, Napier
Wairoa, Napier

6 years
5 weeks

At the residence of James Gilligan, Wairoa, Napier

68/1073

25 August 1868

To Rev. Father Reignier

No	208
Date of Notice	25 August 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dempsey	Mary Gilligan
	💍 1868/7739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Meanee, Napier	Wairoa, Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	At the residence of James Gilligan, Wairoa, Napier
Folio	68/1073
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1868
Officiating Minister	To Rev. Father Reignier

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 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).