Intentions to Marry, 1871

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840383, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

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

Page 227

District of Mangonui Quarter ending 30 June 1871

No	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
4	4 April 1871	Gregor McLeod Jane McGregor	Gregor McLeod Jane McGregor 💍 1871/5040	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 22	Mangonui Mangonui	5 years 20	In my private Residence Mangonui	m 71/35-3		4 April 1871	Revd. S. Hogg
5	4 April 1871	Thomas Peters Crescent Livingston	Thomas Peters Margaret Livingston 💍 1871/8151	Bachelor Spinster	Founder	25 23	Mangonui Mangonui	3 years 3 weeks	In Mr. Conchis' Residence at Mangonui	m 72		4 April 1871	Revd. J. Semslie
6	4 April 1871	Peter Thomson Grace Douglas	Peter Thomson Grace Douglas 💍 1871/8148	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	33 24	Mangonui Mangonui	4 months 1 year at Mangonui	In Mr. Conchis' private Residence	m 72		4 April 1871	Revd J. Semslie
7	5 April 1871	Arthur Harrison Esther Peoples	Arthur Harrison Esther Peapell 💍 1871/5010	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 21	Mangonui Mangonui	5 years 1 year	In Mr. Peoples private Residence at Mangonui	m 73-7	Henry Peoples, father	5 April 1871	Revd. J. Semslie
8	26 April 1871	Joseph Purcell Mary Anne Fox	Joseph Purcell Mary Ann Fox 💍 1871/5019	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 18	Mangonui Mangonui	5 years 18	In Mr. J. Stevens private Residence at Mangonui	m 74		26 April 1871	Revd. J. Lampilla
9	28 April 1871	Robert Sarah Havre Margaret Hastie Dickie	Robert Horgate Hawes Margaret Haslie Dickie 💍 1871/5028	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	34 21	Nairoa Nairoa	4 years 2	In Mr. Dickie private residence at Nairoa	m 71/376		28 April 1871	Revd. G. Shannard
10	6 May 1871	Daniel McLennan Jinny Dickie	Daniel McLdowie Jeanie Dickie 💍 1871/5031	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 20	Nairoa Nairoa	1 year 3 years at Nairoa	In Mr. James Dickie's private Residence at Nairoa	m 71/380.	James Dickie, father	6 May 1871	Revd. G. Shannard
11	13 May 1871	Lewis Johnston Skeet Marriott Smiley Hacktima		Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	31 20	Mangonui Auckland	4 years 4 months	In St. Paul's Church, Symonds Street, Auckland	782	Geo. Winter, father	13 May 1871	Revd. - Heywood
12	19 May 1871	John Burke Mary Ann Byrner	John Burke Mary Ann Byrn 💍 1871/5022	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	41 25	Paka Mangonui	10 months 25 years	In the Roman Catholic Chapel at Paka	m 71/377		19 May 1871	Revd. J. Lampilla
13	15 June 1871	James Ritchie Ann Glooks	James Ritchie Ann Glover 💍 1871/8157	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	30 19	Mangonui Mangonui	4 years 15	In the home of James Ritchie in Peyton Street Mangonui	M_72 458	John Glooks, father	15 June 1871	Revd. J. Semslie
14	26 June 1871	William Bellis Eleanor James Bruce	William Adams Amelia Jane Bruce 💍 1871/4269	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	27 21	Mangonui Mangonui	6 years 4 1/2	At Dept Keills private Residence at Mangonui	M_72 459.		26 June 1871	Revd. J. Semslie
15	28 June 1871	Joseph Fort Annie Frances Mary Lambrecht	Joseph Ford Annie Frances Mary Lawless 💍 1871/5025	Widower Spinster	Farmer	38 22	Mangonui Mangonui	6 years 10	In the Roman Catholic Church Mangonui	m 71/375		28 June 1871	Revd. J. Lampilla

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).