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 188

District of Shortland Quarter ending 30th June 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
395	16 June 1873	Edward Reed Edith Pratt	Edward Reed Edith Pratt 💍 1873/9544	Widower Spinster	Baker Milliner	20 years 20 years	Grahamstown Shortland	5 years 12 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Shortland	73/1609		16 June 1873	Rev Father Edwards
396	18 June 1873	George James Cooper Mary Jule Homard	George James Cooper Mary Jewell Howard 💍 1873/9571	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	25 years 21 years	Grahamstown Grahamstown	5 years 3 years	Church, Thames	73/1618		18 June 1873	Rev S. Buller
397	18 June 1873	Alfred Floyd Olfa Ann Fareve	Alfred Floyd Eliza Ann Varcoe 💍 1873/9418	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	26 years 18 years	Tararu Karaka	2 years 1 year	Dwelling house occupied by William Melvill and Brothers	73/1575	William Fareve, Father	18 June 1873	Rev John Crump
398	18 June 1873	John Rish Bridget Hanlon	Bridget Hanlon John Rist 💍 1873/9448	Bachelor Spinster	Amalgamator Domestic	30 years 27 years	Grahamstown Grahamstown	4 years 12 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Shortland	73/1575		22 July 1873	Rev Father Golden
399	26 June 1873	William Bundell Hayward Janet White Senior	William Candill Haszard Janet White Senior 💍 1873/9481	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	24 years 19 years	Grahamstown Grahamstown	5 years 2 years	Dwelling house occupied by Senior Baid, Grahamstown	73/1587	John White, Father	22 July 1873	Rev James Hill
400	28 June 1873	James McAuliffe Martha Palmer	James McAuliffe Martha Palmer 💍 1873/9604	Widower Spinster	Miner	24 years 23 years	Karaka Karaka	4 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Shortland district	73/1630	Margaret Stodden, Guardian	28 June 1873	Margaret Stodden, Deputy Registrar
401	28 June 1873	Henry James White Elizabeth Waite	Henry James Whiteley Elizabeth Waite 💍 1873/9565	Bachelor Spinster	Monger	25 years 18 years	Mercury Bay Grahamstown	6 years 5 years	Church, Thames	73/1616	Jane Elizabeth Waite, Mother	28 June 1873	Rev S. Buller
402	28 June 1873	James William Morton Eliza Ann Bridges	James William Morton Eliza Anne Bridges 💍 1873/9568	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 years 18 years	Mercury Bay Karaka	6 years 4 years	Church, Thames	73/1617	James Thomas Bridges, Father	28 June 1873	Rev S. Buller

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).