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 350

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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
391	5 July 1873	Peter Johansen Johane Forgirisco	Peder Johansen Johanna Jorgensen 💍 1873/5482	Bachelor Spinster	Navy Nic	28 25	Napier Napier	4 Months 4 Months	Episcopal Church Napier	73/226		5 July 1873	Oliver Ormond
392	8 July 1873	Thomas Connor Mary Ann Baker	Thomas Connar Mary Ann Baker 💍 1873/5518	Bachelor Spinster	Coastwise Freight Domestic Servant	22 18	Napier Napier	6 years 14 years	Roman Catholic Church Napier	73/232	Benjamin Baker, Father	8 July 1873	Oliver Ormond Forest
393	12 February 1873	William Davidson Fulton Anna Christiana Davidson	William Davidson Fulton Anna Christina Davidson 💍 1873/6286	Bachelor Spinster	Engraver Domestic	26 26	Petane Napier	3 years 4 Months	Residence of Wm Davidson Napier	M73/499		12 February 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
395	21 July 1873	Thomas Mansfield Elizabeth Christison	Thomas Mansfield Elizabeth Christjohnsen 💍 1873/5485	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	25 26	Napier Napier	7 Months 4 Months	Episcopalian Church Napier	73/227		21 July 1873	Oliver J. Townsend
396	24 July 1870	William James Bolton Jane Fisk	William James Burton Jane Fisk 💍 1873/5488	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	25 21	Meanee Napier	10 years 3 years	Episcopalian Church Napier	73/225		24 July 1873	Oliver J. Townsend
397	28 July 1870	Roland Charles Davies Rebecca (native)	Rowland Charles Davies Ripeka Wikiriwhi 💍 1873/5491	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	25 17	Taradale Taradale	2 days 2 days	Napier	73/229	Mother or Guardian in the Colony	28 July 1873	Oliver J. Townsend
398	1 March 1870	Thomas Atkins Mary Ann Santos	Thomas Atkins Mary Ann Santie 💍 1873/5506	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Seamstress	28 33	Meanee Meanee	3 years 9 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages	73/235		1 March 1873	The Registrar of Marriages
400	5 March 1873	Charles Symmons Elizabeth McFarlane	Charles Symmons Elizabeth McFarlane 💍 1873/5509	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Domestic	34 32	Napier Napier	10 days 3 weeks	Office of the Registrar of Marriages	73/236		5 March 1873	The Registrar of Marriages
401	6 March 1873	Henry Thomas Probatt Louisa Anderzen	Henry Thomas Probatt Louise Andersen 💍 1873/6289	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic	25 18	Taradale Taradale	2 1/2 years 5 Months	Presbyterian Church Napier	73/500	Has no Parents or guardian in the Colony	6 March 1873	Rev. D. Sidey

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

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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).