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 541

District of Hokitika Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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

151

3 July 1872

John Lane
Annie Christina Burns

John Lancelles
Annie Christina Burns
💍 1872/7562

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

29
16 years & 6 months

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 Weeks
2 Weeks

Church of England Hokitika

74991

James Burns, Father of Annie Christina Burns

5 July 1872

The Venble Archdn Harper

No	151
Date of Notice	3 July 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lane	Annie Christina Burns
BDM Match (82%)	John Lancelles	Annie Christina Burns
	💍 1872/7562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	29	16 years & 6 months
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 Weeks	2 Weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Hokitika
Folio	74991
Consent	James Burns, Father of Annie Christina Burns
Date of Certificate	5 July 1872
Officiating Minister	The Venble Archdn Harper

152

8 July 1872

John Quinlan
Ann McNamara

John Quinlan
Ann McNamara
💍 1872/7511

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

32
26

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Hokitika

749911

9 July 1872

Rev. P.A. Martin

No	152
Date of Notice	8 July 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Quinlan	Ann McNamara
	💍 1872/7511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hokitika
Folio	749911
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.A. Martin

153

9 July 1872

Ellenzyn Josh
Maria Godfrey

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Barmaid

22
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

6 months
9 months

At the residence of Wm. Fulley, Ship Inn Hokitika

M/72/1992

9 July 1872

F.C.C. Elton

No	153
Date of Notice	9 July 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ellenzyn Josh	Maria Godfrey
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Barmaid
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	6 months	9 months
Marriage Place	At the residence of Wm. Fulley, Ship Inn Hokitika
Folio	M/72/1992
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1872
Officiating Minister	F.C.C. Elton

154

10 July 1872

Thomas Henry Harrison
Bridget O'Conner

Thomas Henry Morrison
Bridget O'Connor
💍 1872/7565

Bachelor
Spinster

Shoemaker
Servant

25
20

Hokitika
Hokitika

9 months
4 Months

Church of England Hokitika

M/72/1992.

10 July 1872

Ven. Archdn Harper

No	154
Date of Notice	10 July 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Harrison	Bridget O'Conner
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Henry Morrison	Bridget O'Connor
	💍 1872/7565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shoemaker	Servant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	9 months	4 Months
Marriage Place	Church of England Hokitika
Folio	M/72/1992.
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1872
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdn Harper

155

16 July 1872

George Harker
Charlotte Smith

George Harker
Charlotte Smith Fletcher
💍 1872/7628

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

34
22

Hokitika
Hokitika

6 years
1 year

At the residence of Thos. Henry Feldwick

M/72/2013

16 July 1872

Rev. John Moir

No	155
Date of Notice	16 July 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harker	Charlotte Smith
BDM Match (81%)	George Harker	Charlotte Smith Fletcher
	💍 1872/7628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	At the residence of Thos. Henry Feldwick
Folio	M/72/2013
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Moir

156

23 July 1872

Robert Boyce
Marion Shaw

Robert Boyce
Marion Shaw
💍 1872/7619

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Governess

26
21

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
9 Weeks

At the residences of Richard Grave, Diggers Home Hotel, North Revell St. Hokitika

M/72/2010

23 July 1872

Rev. W.G. Thomas

No	156
Date of Notice	23 July 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Boyce	Marion Shaw
	💍 1872/7619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Governess
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	9 Weeks
Marriage Place	At the residences of Richard Grave, Diggers Home Hotel, North Revell St. Hokitika
Folio	M/72/2010
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.G. Thomas

157

28 July 1872

John Shine
Catherine Cahill

John Shine
Catherine Cahill
💍 1872/7517

Bachelor
Widow

Contractor
Servant

40
28

Kanieri
Kanieri

5 years
5 months

Roman Catholic Church Hokitika

m/72/1993.

28 July 1872

Rev. P.A. Martin

No	157
Date of Notice	28 July 1872
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shine	Catherine Cahill
	💍 1872/7517
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Contractor	Servant
Age	40	28
Dwelling Place	Kanieri	Kanieri
Length of Residence	5 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hokitika
Folio	m/72/1993.
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1872
Officiating Minister	Rev. P.A. Martin

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).