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 426

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
406	16 August 1870	Giovani Beros Eliza Barnes	Giovannie Beros Eliza Barnes 💍 1870/6915	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	29 years 28 years	Hokitika Hokitika	9 months 2 years	Presbyterian Church		16 August 1870	Rev Mr Gow
407	21 August 1870	John Cullinan Ellen Barry	John Cullinane Ellen Barry 💍 1870/7029	Bachelor Spinster	Ferryman	over age Minor	Hokitika Hokitika	5 days 5 days	Roman Catholic Church	Even Barry, She River 70, next minor, had no other relative in colony	21 August 1870	Rev P. A. Martin
408	26 August 1870	Gabriel McGrath Julia Gleeson	Patrick McGrath Julia Gleeson 💍 1870/7032	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	Over age Over age	Waimea Stafford District Hokitika	4 years 3 days	Roman Catholic Church Hokitika		26 August 1870	Rev P. A. Martin
409	27 August 1870	John George Le Tongue Agnes Edwards	John George Lefongue Harley Bridget Agnes Edwards 💍 1870/9423	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	34 years 34 years	Kanieri Kanieri	22 months 12 months	Roman Catholic Church		29 August 1870	Rev P. A. Martin
410	29 August 1870	Alexander Robertson Falconer Annie Halerow	Alexander Robertson Falconer Annie Halcrow 💍 1870/6855	Bachelor Widow	Hairdresser	Over age Over age	Hokitika	5 years 6 months	Married by Registrar at office		29 August 1870	Fitzherbert Demsa Registrar
411	29 August 1870	Charles Gurr Ruth Haymes	Charles Gurr Ruth Haynes 💍 1870/6954	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	33 years Over age	Hokitika Hokitika	12 months 12 months	Church of England		29 August 1870	Rev Arch Harper
412	31 August 1870	Sydney Thomas Smith Catherine Murray	Sydney Thomas Smith Catherine Murray 💍 1870/6918	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	28 years 20 years	Hokitika Hokitika	2 years 4 years	Presbyterian Church	Richard Jelly, Guardian of Catherine Murray	31 August 1870	Rev Mr Gow
413	8 September 1870	William Pole Mary Hersyth	William Pole Mary Forsyth 💍 1870/6921	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant	Over age Over age	Hokitika Hokitika	3 years 3 years	Presbyterian Manse Hokitika		8 September 1870	Rev Mr Gow
414	20 September 1870	Forrest Miller Margaret Hare	James Miller Margaret Hare 💍 1870/6924	Bachelor Spinster	Bottle Dealer Barmaid	29 years 21 years	Hokitika Hokitika	5 years 2 years	Rainbow Hotel Hokitika		20 September 1870	Rev Mr Gow

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).