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 285

District of Napier Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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
340	10 April 1872	David McIntyre Agnes Smith	David McIntyre Agnes Smith 💍 1872/5250	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer Domestic	26 20	Napier Napier	18 Months 2 years	residence of D. Sidey Napier	1268	James Sidey has hw relation of Guardian in the Colony.	12th April 1872	Rev. David Sidey
341	20 April 1872	Robert Wellwood Annie Herlop	Robert Wellwood Annie Heslop 💍 1872/5280	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	33 23	Karamu Napier Puketapu Napier	12 years 15 years	residence of Mr Heslop Puketapu	1218	Mr Heslop	2nd May 1872	Rev J. Corner
342	5 April 1872	Robert George Collin Martha Ann King	Robert George Collins Martha Ann King 💍 1872/5217	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nil	28 21	Clive Napier Clive Napier	3 years 18 Months	Wesleyan Church Meanee	1196		5th April 1872	Rev. S.D. Green
343	6 April 1872	Robert Henry Mackenzie Janet Nicholson Couper	Robert Henry MacKenzie Janet Nicholson Couper 💍 1872/5271	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Nil	25 19	Havelock Napier Havelock Napier	13 years 13 years	residence of Wm Couper Havelock	1215	Wm Couper	6th April 1872	Rev. A. Shepherd
344	9 April 1872	John Orr Margaret Knox Couper	John Orr Margaret Knox Couper 💍 1872/5268	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant Nil	29 22	Napier Havelock Napier	5 years 13 years	residence of Mr Couper Havelock	1214	Mr Couper	9th April 1872	Rev. A. McPhee
345	11 April 1872	Wm George Motley Catharine Agnes	William George Motley Catherine Angus 💍 1872/5253	Bachelor Spinster	Messenger Domestic	24 24	Napier Napier	3 years 1 year	residence of Mr Motley Napier	1209	Mr Motley	11th April 1872	Rev David Rilley
346	25 April 1872	Daniel Wood Elizabeth Curtis	Daniel Woods Elizabeth Curtis 💍 1872/5211	Bachelor Spinster	Domestic	28 20	Napier Napier	5 years 7 years	Rom. Cath. Ch. Napier	1194	at the request of the Registar of Marriages (Married by Father Yount)	25th April 1872	office of Registar of Marriages
347	21 May 1872	James Moulden Elizabeth Cook	James Moulder Elizabeth Cook 💍 1872/5295	Bachelor Widow	Bushman Nil	42 33	Kaikora Napier Kaikora Napier	17 years 16 years	Office of the Registar of Marriages Waipawa	1293		21 May 1872	Registrar of Marriages Waipawa
348	28 May 1872	Dennis Donovan Rose Doran	Denis Donovan Rose Doran 💍 1872/5208	Bachelor Spinster	Currier Domestic	25 25	Meanee Napier Shakespears Road Napier	4 years 4 years	Roman Catholic Church Napier	1193		28 May 1872	Rev. Father Yount

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 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).