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 389

District of Cobden Quarter ending 31 March 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
44	3 January 1871	George Barter Catherine Sullivan	George Carter Catherine Sullivan 💍 1871/5523	Bachelor Widow	Cattle Dealer None	40 28	Ahaura Ahaura	5 years 4 years	Bridge Hotel	71/553		3 January 1871	Rev. W. S. Watkins
45	11 January 1871	James Stalker Marion Miller	James Stalker Marion Miller 💍 1871/9231	Widower Widow	Mariner None	49 39	Flagstaff Point Flagstaff Point	6 years 18 months	At Registrar			11 January 1871	Shelton George Rowley, Deputy Registrar
46	11 January 1871	William William Catherine Murphy	William Williams Catherine Murphy 💍 1871/9234	Bachelor Spinster	Baker None	35 27	Callaghan Creek Greymouth	5 months 14 days	At Registrar			11 January 1871	Shelton George Rowley, Deputy Registrar
47	15 January 1871	Clement Winter Edith Willis	Clement Winter Edith Willis 💍 1871/5460	Bachelor Spinster	Bank agent None	24 29	of Greymouth now of Hokitika	15 months 6 months	Church of England Greymouth	31/530	but will reside in Hokitika for over three days before marriage	15 January 1871	Rev. W. Harper
48	23 January 1871	Daniel Alabaster Isabella Fenwick	Daniel Alabaster Isabella Fenwick 💍 1871/3872	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner None	33 28	Cobden Cobden	3 days 14 days	At Registrar			23 January 1871	Caleb Whiteford, Registrar
49	23 January 1871	Johnston Arnold Farvis Fanny Florence Morrison	Christian Arnold Farwig Fanny Florence Morrison 💍 1871/9237	Bachelor Widow	Miner Widow	37 29	North Beach North Beach	3 days 4 days	At Registrar			23 January 1871	Shelton George Rowley, Deputy Registrar
50	28 January 1871	James Perkins Margaret Ryan	James Purkiss Margaret Ryan 💍 1871/5547	Bachelor Widow	Miner None	32 32	Ahaura Greymouth	4 years 4 days	Catholic Chapel Greymouth	71/563		28 January 1871	Rev. Father Colenso
51	30 January 1871	James Galbraith Margaret Mahoney	James Galbraith Margaret Mahoney 💍 1871/5550	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper None	26 26	Notown Greymouth	12 months 2 years	Roman Catholic Chapel Greymouth	71/502		30 January 1871	Rev. Father Colenso
52	30 January 1871	William Watherspoon Agnes Stewart	William Atherton Heaton Agnes Hewitt 💍 1871/9240	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper None	42 24	Flagstaff Point Flagstaff Point	3 days 3 days	At Registrar	71/509		30 January 1871	Shelton George Rowley, Deputy Registrar
53	3 February 1871	James M. Jurors Ellen Jane Sanders	James McInroe Ellen Score Sanders 💍 1871/5400	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper None	30 19	Little Grey Junction Now	1/2 years 6 months	Italian Hotel	71/476		3 February 1871	Rev. Father Busfield
54	13 February 1871	Edward Elson Bridget Marlow		Bachelor Spinster	[UNCLEAR] Hotel k[UNCLEAR] None	28 25	Nelson Creek Nelson Creek	2 years 9 months	At Hokitika Rush	71/555		13 February 1871	Rev. Father Busfield
55	20 March 1871	John Stephen Jane James	John Stephens Emma James 💍 1871/5526	Bachelor Spinster	Store Keeper None	24 21	Nelson Creek Nelson Creek	5 years 5 months	Church of England			21 March 1871	Rev. W. Williams

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).