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 299

District of Quarter ending

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

153

1 October 1868

Charles Henry Alley
Margaret Adam

Charles Henry Alley
Margaret Odlum
💍 1868/4248

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Nil

23
24

Hardlock Napier
White Rd. Napier

6 years
2 years

at the Spiritists church Jempson St. Napier

1092

7 October 1868

Rev John Townsend Napier

No	153
Date of Notice	1 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Alley	Margaret Adam
BDM Match (89%)	Charles Henry Alley	Margaret Odlum
	💍 1868/4248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Nil
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Hardlock Napier	White Rd. Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the Spiritists church Jempson St. Napier
Folio	1092
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev John Townsend Napier

154

19 October 1868

John Donaldson
Margaret Joyce

John Johnson
Margaret Joyce
💍 1868/4853

John Johnston
Margaret Joyce
💍 1868/9646

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Domestic

23
18

Phonix, Napier
Puketapu, Napier

7 years
3 years

at the Residence of Father Reignier Meanee Napier

2339

Father Reignier

20 October 1868

Rev. Read Napier

No	154
Date of Notice	19 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Donaldson	Margaret Joyce
BDM Match (82%)	John Johnson	Margaret Joyce
	💍 1868/4853
BDM Match (79%)	John Johnston	Margaret Joyce
	💍 1868/9646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Phonix, Napier	Puketapu, Napier
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Father Reignier Meanee Napier
Folio	2339
Consent	Father Reignier
Date of Certificate	20 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. Read Napier

155

21 October 1868

Samuel Cleland Graham
Eliza Jane Purcell

Samuel Cleland Graham
Eliza Jane Purcell
💍 1868/7727

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nil

28
22

Puketapu, Napier
Clere Square Napier

4 years
2 years

at the residence of her Kirk patrick Clere Square Napier

1068

22 October 1868

Rev S. Morried Napier

No	155
Date of Notice	21 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Cleland Graham	Eliza Jane Purcell
	💍 1868/7727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nil
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Puketapu, Napier	Clere Square Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of her Kirk patrick Clere Square Napier
Folio	1068
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Morried Napier

157

1 November 1868

John Catanach
Phebe Butler

John Catanach
Phoebe Butler
💍 1868/4326

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
22

Meanee, Napier
Barrack Hill Napier

3 years
6 months

at the Residence of Rev Newton Barrack Hill Napier

1069

2 November 1868

Rev. A. Sheppard Napier

No	157
Date of Notice	1 November 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Catanach	Phebe Butler
BDM Match (96%)	John Catanach	Phoebe Butler
	💍 1868/4326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Meanee, Napier	Barrack Hill Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	at the Residence of Rev Newton Barrack Hill Napier
Folio	1069
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Sheppard Napier

158

4 November 1868

Matthew Joyce Dewey
Bella McKenna

Mathew Joyce Pearcy
Bella McKenna
💍 1868/7703

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachman
Domestic

26
21

The Spit, Napier
Napier

9 years
1 1/2 year

at the Roman Catholic church Shakespere Rd Napier

1060

4 November 1868

Rev. James Sorell Napier

No	158
Date of Notice	4 November 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Joyce Dewey	Bella McKenna
BDM Match (87%)	Mathew Joyce Pearcy	Bella McKenna
	💍 1868/7703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachman	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	The Spit, Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 years	1 1/2 year
Marriage Place	at the Roman Catholic church Shakespere Rd Napier
Folio	1060
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Sorell Napier

216

23 October 1868

Thomas Harkins
Ann Maher

Thomas Hawkins
Ann Maher
💍 1868/7742

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

35
25

Meanee, Napier
Shakespere Rd. Napier

3 years
2 years

at the residence of father Regnier Meanee

1074

23 October 1868

Rev. Father Regnier Napier

No	216
Date of Notice	23 October 1868
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harkins	Ann Maher
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Hawkins	Ann Maher
	💍 1868/7742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Meanee, Napier	Shakespere Rd. Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of father Regnier Meanee
Folio	1074
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1868
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Regnier Napier

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).