Intentions to Marry, 1873

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840385, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke Howison at Archives NZ Wellington, December 4 2024

Page 362

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1873

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
449	20 November 1873	Thomas Hyde Emily Beagley	Thomas Hyde Emily Beagley 💍 1873/8944	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Smith Nil	23 19	Napier Napier	13 months 9 years	Residence of Wm Beagley, Napier	73/1405	William Beagley, Father	20 Nov 1873	Rev. M. Redstone
450	21 Nov 1873	Warren Katherine Matilda Monteith	William Augustus Warren Katherine Matilda Monteith 💍 1873/10558	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Nil	30 24	Napier Napier	4 years 9 Month	Episcopalian Church, Napier	73/1956		21 Nov 1873	Rev. J. Gowen
451	22 Nov 1873	Thorvald Wilhelm Christus Krogh Alberthine Harmane Courdtzen	Thorswald Wilhelm Christian Krogh Alberthine Hannana Kordtzen 💍 1873/8974	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	25 24	Napier Napier	11 years 1 year	residence of Mr Edward, Napier	73/1405		22 Nov 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
452	1 Dec 1873	Edward Ashton Harris Stopher	Edward Ashton Harriet Stopher 💍 1873/10561	Bachelor Spinster	Builder Nil	27 22	Napier Napier	10 years 13 Months	Episcopalian Church, Napier	73/1957		1 Dec 1873	Rev. J. Gowland
454	4 Dec 1873	Arthur Poyzer Mary Daly	Arthur Poyzer Mary Daly 💍 1873/8971	Bachelor Spinster	Birdsman Domestic	27 20	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	residence of Mr Carmichael, Napier	73/1414	No Parents living or guardian in Colony	4 Dec 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
455	15 Dec 1873	Wm John Wright Jane Matheson Motion	William John Wright Jane Mathuson Motion 💍 1873/8977	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Nil	25 22	Napier Napier	8 months 3 days	residence of Jn Murray, Napier	73/1416		15 Dec 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
456	15 Dec 1873	John Hawell Lucy Dowa	John Howell Lucy Dowd 💍 1873/8980	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	23 26	Napier Napier	12 years 6 years	residence of John Schards, Napier	73/1417		15 Dec 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
458	29 Dec 1873	Henry George Beedell Olma Andersen	Henry George Beedell Olina Anderson 💍 1873/8983	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber Domestic	24 24	Napier Napier	1 year 1 year	residence of Mr Beedell, Napier	73/1418		29 Dec 1873	Rev. D. Ridley

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).