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 287

District of Napier Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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
355	1 July 1872	Valentine Thos Hitchings Rosa Ann Cheer	Valentine Thomas Hitchings Rosa Annie Cheer 💍 1872/5421	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Nil	29 16	Patangatu Havelock	3 Weeks 4 years	Residence of Mr Cheer Havelock	72/1268	Bartholomew Cheer, Havelock	1 July 1872	Revd A Shepherd
356	5 July 1872	Francis Wm Parker Morrin Mercer	Francis William Parker Marion Mercer 💍 1872/5262	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	21 20	Peka peka Napier	14 years 9 months	Residence of Mrs Morris	911 72/ 1212	Jno Wm Forster, her guardian	5 July 1872	Revd D Sidey
357	10 July 1872	Charles Moffatt Louisa Freeman	Charles Moffat Louisa Freeman 💍 1872/5265	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker Nil	21 18	Napier Napier	9 months 13 years	Residence of Revd D Sidey	711 72/ 1213	Revd D Sidey, Father	10 July 1872	Revd D Sidey
358	1 August 1872	William Darvill Emily Cooke	William Darvill Emily Corke 💍 1872/5286	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	31 21	Taradale Meanee	2 years 6 months	Episcopal Church	711 72/ 1220		1 August 1872	Revd J Townsend
359	13 August 1872	Donald Robt McDonell Ellen Meagle	Donald Robert McDonald Ellen Neagle 💍 1872/5232	Bachelor Spinster	Overseer Nil	34 24	Napier Meanee	5 years 5 years	Residence of Revd John Mclean	711 72/ 1201		13 August 1872	Revd John McLean
360	17 August 1872	Henry Charles Wilson Rosa Johnson McKenzie	Henry Charles Wilson Rosa Harman McKenzie 💍 1872/7913	Bachelor Spinster	Dentist Nil	33 17	Napier Napier	12 years 10 years	Residence of Mrs McKenzie	711 72/ 1211	Charles McKenzie, Father	17 August 1872	Revd D Sidey
361	26 August 1872	William John Graham Sarah McFadden	William John Graham Sarah McFaddan 💍 1872/7910	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	28 23	Napier Napier	4 1/2 years 4 years	Residence of Wm Graham	711 72/2110		26 August 1872	Revd H B Radclyffe
362	26 August 1872	Peter Pownall Sarah Howell	Peter Pownall Sarah Howell 💍 1872/7901	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Nil	27 19	Clive, Napier Clive, Napier	7 years 15 years	residence of Mr Mitchell	711 72/ 1210	David Howell, Father	26 August 1872	Revd A D Green

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 1899. 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).