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 185

District of ThorHand Quarter ending 30 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
371	1 April 1873	Thomas Harven Christina Palmer	Thomas Harvey Christina Palmer 💍 1873/9472	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmoulder	29 years 21 years	Grahamstown Grahamstown	5 years 5 years	The dwelling house occupied by Benjamin Palmer Halikaraka Thames	73/1584	Benjamin Palmer	1 April 1873	Rev. James Hill
372	9 April 1873	John Kucrboue Lavinia Moyle	John Kneebone Lavinia Moyle 💍 1873/9469	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	38 years 24 years	Shotover Shotover	8 months 18 months	The dwelling house occupied by William Moyle Shotover Thames	73/1583	William Moyle	9 April 1873	Rev. James Neil
373	14 April 1873	William Robinson Julia McNamara	Wm Robinson Julia McNamara 💍 1873/9520	Bachelor Spinster	Reporter Domestic	27 years 23 years	Shortland Parawai	3 years 3 years	The Roman Catholic Chapel The Thames	73/1601		14 April 1873	Rev. Father Livardo
374	14 April 1873	Patrick Burke Bedelia Murray	Patrick Burke Bedelia Murray 💍 1873/9523	Widower Spinster	Publican	38 years 20 years	Grahamstown Shortland	20 months 4 months	The dwelling house occupied by Timothy Murray Karaka Road Thames	73/1602	Timothy Murray	15 April 1873	Rev. Father Livardo
375	19 April 1873	Frederick Wallis Emma Autridge	Frederick Wallis Emma Autridge 💍 1873/9409	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	30 years 21 years	Karaka Karaka	5 days 4 years	The dwelling house occupied by Mr. Charles Autridge Karaka Thames	73/1562	Charles Autridge	19 April 1873	Rev. John Crumps
376	22 April 1873	Samuel Brennan Margaret Kinsella	Samuel Brennan Margt Kinsella 💍 1873/9526	Widower Widow	A.C. Force Domestic	51 years 29 years	Grahamstown Shortland	5 years 12 months	The Roman Catholic Chapel Shortland	73/1603		22 April 1873	Rev. Father Livardo
377	22 April 1873	William Jarvie Anna Maria Duffy	William Parker Anna Maria Dufty 💍 1873/9562	Bachelor Widow	Millman	53 years 28 years	Parawai Parawai	3 years 3 years	St. George's Church The Thames	73/1615		22 April 1873	Rev. O. B. Lush
378	30 April 1873	John Frederick Bocks Hannah Maria Price	John Frederick Cocks Hannah Maira Price Child 💍 1873/9412	Bachelor Spinster	Musician Dressmaker	20 years 17 years	Shortland Shortland	2 years 4 years	The dwelling house occupied by James Cockh Pollen Street Shortland	73/1563	James Cockh, Hugh Child, Hugh Child	2 May 1873	Rev. John Crumps

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).