Intentions to Marry, 1870

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840382, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, November 15 2024

Page 425

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 September 1870

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
397	2 July 1870	Timothy Gallagher Mary Frances Mullins	Timothy Gallagher Mary Frances Mullins 💍 1870/7017	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 years Minor	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 1 year	Roman Catholic Church	Cornelius Driscoll, Guardian	2 July 1870	Rev. P. F. Martin
398	6 July 1870	George Edward Stanaway Ann Rebecca Bradley	George Edward Sunaway Ann Rebecca Bradley 💍 1870/6951	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	31 years 17 years	Woodstock	5 years	Church of Trinity, England	Henry Bradley, Father of Ann Rebecca Bradley	6 July 1870	Rev. Archd. Harper
399	8 July 1870	David Garrioch Ann Taylor	David Garnoch Ann Taylor 💍 1870/6849	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	One age	Hokitika	3 days	Registrar's Office, Hokitika		8 July 1870	Fitzherbert Dermott, Registrar
400	9 July 1870	Henry Adamson Ann Foster	Henry Adamson Anne Foster 💍 1870/7020 Henry Gills Ann Foster 💍 1870/6039	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	One age One age	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Presbytery		9 July 1870	Rev. P. F. Martin
401	18 July 1870	Laurance Harris Matilda Maillet	Lawrence Harris Matilda Maillet 💍 1870/6852	Bachelor Spinster	Mail Contractor	29 years 22 years	Hokitika Hokitika	2 years 6 Weeks	Registrar's Office, Hokitika		18 July 1870	Fitzherbert Dermott, Registrar
402	25 July 1870	Myles Magenis Diseon Annie Hodgson	Myles Maginis Dixon Annie Hodgson 💍 1870/6909	Bachelor Widow	Ship Builder	27 years 28 years	Hokitika Hokitika	3 years 2 years	Private Residence		25 July 1870	Rev. J. J. Gow
403	25 July 1870	Joseph Osborne Lang Charlotte Ann Parsons	Joseph Osborne Lang Charlotte Ann Parsons 💍 1870/7023	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	33 years 21 years	Hokitika Hokitika	2 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church		25 July 1870	Rev. P. F. Martino
404	27 July 1870	Thomas Ecclesfield Mary Elizabeth Dale	Thomas Ecclesfield Mary Elizabeth Dale 💍 1870/6912	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	32 years Minor	Hokitika Hokitika	5 years 3 years	Scotch House	George Dale, Father of Mary Elizabeth Dale	27 July 1870	Rev. John Gow
405	12 August 1870	William Magee Catherine Louisa Clark	William Magee Catherine Louisa Clark 💍 1870/7026	Bachelor Widow	Miner	34 years One age	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church		12 August 1870	Rev. P. F. Martin

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

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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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).