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 793

District of Chatham Islands 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

9 October 1871

James Langdale
Mary Ann Hunt

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
20

Pitts Island
Do

6 years
2 years

Registrars Office

714

9 October 1871

R.J. Lanauze Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	9 October 1871
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Langdale	Mary Ann Hunt
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Pitts Island	Do
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	714
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1871
Officiating Minister	R.J. Lanauze Registrar

19 Dec

Retimina Nga Mate
Nga tere Rehi

Bachelor
Spinster

30
23

Waitangi
Do

20 yrs
23 yrs

Registrar's Office

714

20 Dec 1871

R.J. Lanauze Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	19 Dec
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Retimina Nga Mate	Nga tere Rehi
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Waitangi	Do
Length of Residence	20 yrs	23 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	714
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 Dec 1871
Officiating Minister	R.J. Lanauze Registrar

10 May

Te One Tiaki
Eliza Muri Muri

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

40
40

Pitts Island
Do

2 yrs
2 yrs

Registrar;s Office

2611

10 May 1872

R.J. Lanauze Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	10 May
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Te One Tiaki	Eliza Muri Muri
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Pitts Island	Do
Length of Residence	2 yrs	2 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar;s Office
Folio	2611
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1872
Officiating Minister	R.J. Lanauze Registrar

22 Augt

Pangu Pangu Te Ringa
Emma Iheta

Pangupangu Te Ringa
Emma Heta
💍 1872/9341

Widower
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

39
14

Waitangi
Do

20 yrs
14 yrs

Registrar's Office

2610

Retimona Ngamate, Guardian

22 Augt 1872

R.J. Lanauze Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	22 Augt
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Pangu Pangu Te Ringa	Emma Iheta
BDM Match (85%)	Pangupangu Te Ringa	Emma Heta
	💍 1872/9341
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	39	14
Dwelling Place	Waitangi	Do
Length of Residence	20 yrs	14 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	2610
Consent	Retimona Ngamate, Guardian
Date of Certificate	22 Augt 1872
Officiating Minister	R.J. Lanauze Registrar

3 Sept

Romani Serungi Hatahau
Ko Pare Kaiuru

Romani Terangi Katohau
Ko Pare Rauira
💍 1872/9338

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler

40
25

Owenga
Do

30 yrs
20 yrs

Registrar's Office

709

3 Sept 1872

R.J. Lahauze Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	3 Sept
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Romani Serungi Hatahau	Ko Pare Kaiuru
BDM Match (77%)	Romani Terangi Katohau	Ko Pare Rauira
	💍 1872/9338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Owenga	Do
Length of Residence	30 yrs	20 yrs
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	709
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 Sept 1872
Officiating Minister	R.J. Lahauze Registrar

23 Sept

Felix Arthur Douglas
Anne Marguret Shand

Felix Arthur Douglas Cox
Ann Margaret Shand
💍 1872/9335

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer

25
28

Waitangi
Kaingaroa

5 yrs
17 yrs

708

24 Sept 1872

R.J. Lahauze Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	23 Sept
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Arthur Douglas	Anne Marguret Shand
BDM Match (86%)	Felix Arthur Douglas Cox	Ann Margaret Shand
	💍 1872/9335
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Waitangi	Kaingaroa
Length of Residence	5 yrs	17 yrs
Marriage Place	Do
Folio	708
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 Sept 1872
Officiating Minister	R.J. Lahauze Registrar

31 Dec

Albert Pearson Brown
Mercy Dorothea Leguencul

Albert Pearson Brown
Mary Dorothea Regnault
💍 1872/9332

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

20
19

Chatham Islds
Do

2 yrs
19 yrs

707

Brother Henry Brown

31 Dec 1872

R.M. Rayner Registrar

No	28
Date of Notice	31 Dec
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Pearson Brown	Mercy Dorothea Leguencul
BDM Match (85%)	Albert Pearson Brown	Mary Dorothea Regnault
	💍 1872/9332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Chatham Islds	Do
Length of Residence	2 yrs	19 yrs
Marriage Place	Do
Folio	707
Consent	Brother Henry Brown
Date of Certificate	31 Dec 1872
Officiating Minister	R.M. Rayner Registrar

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).