Intentions to Marry, 1872

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840384, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 247

District of Wanganui Quarter ending Oct - Dec

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

14 October 1872

David Noble
Helen Bartholomew

David Noble
Helen Bartholomew
💍 1872/8222

B
S

Carpenter

33
27

Wanganui
do

2 yrs
6 mths

Res. of Hugh Morrow Wanganui

721

14 October 1872

Rev. J. Elmslie

No	20
Date of Notice	14 October 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Noble	Helen Bartholomew
	💍 1872/8222
Condition	B	S
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence	2 yrs	6 mths
Marriage Place	Res. of Hugh Morrow Wanganui
Folio	721
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie

29 October 1872

Fred Leveridge
Hannah Campbell

Fred Leveridge
Hannah Amelia Campbell
💍 1872/8225

B
S

Laborer

22
21

Wanganui
do

12 yrs
7 yrs

Res. of R. W. Campbell Wanganui

722

R. W. Campbell, father

29 October 1872

Rev. D. Hogg

No	21
Date of Notice	29 October 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Leveridge	Hannah Campbell
BDM Match (84%)	Fred Leveridge	Hannah Amelia Campbell
	💍 1872/8225
Condition	B	S
Profession	Laborer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence	12 yrs	7 yrs
Marriage Place	Res. of R. W. Campbell Wanganui
Folio	722
Consent	R. W. Campbell, father
Date of Certificate	29 October 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Hogg

2 November 1872

Arthur Thirkade
Catherine Armstrong

Arthur Kinkade
Catherine Ann Armstrong
💍 1872/8216

B
S

Laborer

35
23

Wanganui
do

5 yrs
5 yrs

Res. of Rev. Elmslie Wanganui

723

2 November 1872

Rev. J. Elmslie

No	22
Date of Notice	2 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thirkade	Catherine Armstrong
BDM Match (81%)	Arthur Kinkade	Catherine Ann Armstrong
	💍 1872/8216
Condition	B	S
Profession	Laborer
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence	5 yrs	5 yrs
Marriage Place	Res. of Rev. Elmslie Wanganui
Folio	723
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie

4 November 1872

Jas Smiley
Eliza Grieves

James Smiley
Eliza Schaver
💍 1872/8219

B
S

Livery Stable Proprietor

34
21

Wanganui
do

2 yrs
2 yrs

Res. of Rev. J. Elmslie Wanganui

724

4 November 1872

Rev. J. Elmslie

No	23
Date of Notice	4 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jas Smiley	Eliza Grieves
BDM Match (72%)	James Smiley	Eliza Schaver
	💍 1872/8219
Condition	B	S
Profession	Livery Stable Proprietor
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence	2 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Res. of Rev. J. Elmslie Wanganui
Folio	724
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Elmslie

8 November 1872

Jas Stevenson
Mary Sweeney

John Stevenson
Mary Sweeney
💍 1872/8231

B
S

Farmer

31
19

Wanganui
do

4 days
4 days

Catholic Chapel Wanganui

725

Mary Sweeney, Mother

8 November 1872

Father Tressalet

No	24
Date of Notice	8 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jas Stevenson	Mary Sweeney
BDM Match (89%)	John Stevenson	Mary Sweeney
	💍 1872/8231
Condition	B	S
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Catholic Chapel Wanganui
Folio	725
Consent	Mary Sweeney, Mother
Date of Certificate	8 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Father Tressalet

18 November 1872

John Holly
Mary Flynn

John Holly
Mary Flynn
💍 1872/8234

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman

24
18

Wanganui
Wanganui

Catholic Chapel Wanganui

72/2222

Michael Flynn, father

18 November 1872

Father Tressalet

No	25
Date of Notice	18 November 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Holly	Mary Flynn
	💍 1872/8234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Catholic Chapel Wanganui
Folio	72/2222
Consent	Michael Flynn, father
Date of Certificate	18 November 1872
Officiating Minister	Father Tressalet

3 December 1872

Geo Moir
Agnes Jane Souter

George Moir
Agnes Jane Souter
💍 1872/8228

B
S

Blacksmith

32
19

Wanganui
do

Res. of Alex Leslie Wanganui

727

Alex Leslie, guardian

3 December 1872

Rev. D. Hogg

No	26
Date of Notice	3 December 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo Moir	Agnes Jane Souter
BDM Match (86%)	George Moir	Agnes Jane Souter
	💍 1872/8228
Condition	B	S
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Res. of Alex Leslie Wanganui
Folio	727
Consent	Alex Leslie, guardian
Date of Certificate	3 December 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Hogg

3 December 1872

Edw. Magrath
Matahia Tau-a-Rima

B
S

Laborer

40
40

Turakina
Putiki

Putiki Church Wanganui

3 December 1872

Rev. B. K. Taylor

No	27
Date of Notice	3 December 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edw. Magrath	Matahia Tau-a-Rima
Condition	B	S
Profession	Laborer
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Turakina	Putiki
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Putiki Church Wanganui
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. K. Taylor

3 December 1872

Wm. Douglas
Agnes Crispy

B
S

Sawmayer

23
19

Wanganui
do

St. Paul's Church Wanganui (Putiki)

Sarah Warwick, Mother

3 December 1872

Rev. B. K. Taylor

No	28
Date of Notice	3 December 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wm. Douglas	Agnes Crispy
Condition	B	S
Profession	Sawmayer
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	do
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Wanganui (Putiki)
Folio
Consent	Sarah Warwick, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 December 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. K. Taylor

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).