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 193

District of Shortland 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
430	1 October 1873	George Edward Thom Elizabeth Foulis Lawlor	George Edward Thom Elizabeth Foulis Lawlor 💍 1873/10522	Bachelor Spinster	Mining Manager Caulor specialty	37 years 25 years	Tuakau Pararu	4 years 4 years	The Presbyterian School House Pararu	73/1944		1 October 1873	Regd B. Lush
431	2 October 1873	Alexander Upjohn Anna Maria Watson	Alexr Hutchison Anna Maria Watson 💍 1873/10900	Bachelor Spinster	Shipwright	24 years 21 years	Shortland Shortland	3 years 5 years	The dwelling house occupied by William Walsony Pollen Street Shortland	73/2079	William Watson	2 October 1873	Regd Jas Hill
432	8 October 1873	William Cole Luck Caroline Taylor	William Cole Caroline Taylor 💍 1873/10525	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Milliner	28 years 24 years	Grahamstown Grahamstown	6 years 9 months	George's Church The Thames	73/1945		8 October 1873	Regd B. Lush
433	11 October 1873	Nathaniel Wayne Elizabeth Hankes	Nathaniel Payne Elizabeth Hawkes 💍 1873/10528	Bachelor Spinster	Engraver	27 years 19 years	Shortland Grahamstown	4 years 4 years	George's Church The Thames	73/1946	Elizabeth Hankes mother	13 October 1873	Regd S. Wilson
434	15 October 1873	Andrew Learner Janet Ramsey	Andrew Carnie Janet Ramsay 💍 1873/9625	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Milliner	36 years 30 years	Grahamstown Waiotahi	5 years 3 years	The dwelling house occupied by William Carmis Waiotahi Thames	73/1637	William Carmis	15 October 1873	Regd W. Jones
435	15 October 1873	James Coombes Mary Jane Renner	James Coombes Mary Jane Renner 💍 1873/10849	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Milliner	26 years 18 years	Shortland Parawai	2 years 2 years	The dwelling house by Mr. Renner Parawai	73/2062	Tobash Coombes the mother	18 October 1873	Regd W. Jones
436	20 October 1873	John Burges Tassdale Jane Dickison Ricket	John Burgess Teasdale Jane Dickinson Rickit 💍 1873/10540	Bachelor Spinster	Mining Manager	25 years 20 years	Tararu Karaka	4 years 4 years	St Paul's Cathedral Church Duckland	73/1950		25 October 1873	Regd C. R. Judson
437	21 October 1873	Charles Gleeson Mary Fitzgibbon	Charles Glisson Mary Fitzpatrick 💍 1873/11278	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Domestic	27 years 24 years	Shortland Shortland	11 months 4 years	The Rorgan Mounts Catholic Church Shortland	73/2214	Michael Fitzgibbon father having ground Shortland	27 October 1873	Regd J. Patterson

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).