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 287

District of Wellington 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
132	24 October 1873	James Smith Rose Hart	James Smith Rose Hart 💍 1873/10120	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Bricklayer	34 26	Wellington Wellington	8 yrs 10 yrs	House of Edw. Hart, Tory St.	73/1808		24 October 1873	Rev J. Dean
133	24 October 1873	John Wilkins Henrietta Mellis	John Wilkins Henrietta Mellis 💍 1873/10432	Widower Spinster	Farmer Barmaid	43 36	Hutt Wellington	17 yrs many years	St. Peters Church, Te Aro	73/1914		24 October 1873	Ven. Archdn Stock
134	31 October 1873	Michael Hogan Maria Beggs	Michael Logan Maria Beggs 💍 1873/10159	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Labourer	28 14	Hutt Hutt	12mo 6mo	St James' Church, Hutt	73/1821	Hanny Beggs, Mother	31 October 1873	Rev J Pancourt
135	28 October 1873	James Douglas Sarah Ann Moran	James Douglas Sarah Jane Moran 💍 1873/10330	Bachelor Spinster	Brickmaker Storeman	23 18	Wellington Wellington	4mo 18 yrs	House of Sarah J. Moran, Majoribanks Street	73/1878	Sarah J. Moran, Mother	4 November 1873	Rev J. Paterson
136	3 November 1873	John Taylor Margaret Russell	John Angelo Mary Ann Russell 💍 1873/8227	Bachelor Spinster	Sheepfarmer Merchant	33 22	Wellington Wellington	1 wk 1 wk	House of W.W. Taylor	73/1877		3 November 1873	Rev J. Paterson
137	3 November 1873	Sidney Saul Henrietta Williams	Sydney Saul Henrietta Williams 💍 1873/10267	Bachelor Spinster	Steward of Cinda Medical Galvanist	33 25	Wellington Wellington	2 days 12mo	House of Rev J Moir	73/1857		3 November 1873	Rev J. Moir
138	14 November 1873	William Thompson Ellen Douglass	William Thompson Ellen Douglas 💍 1873/10306	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	29 25	Wellington Wellington	2 days 4 ms	House of Chas. Barry, Abel Smith St.	73/1870		18 November 1873	Rev C.D. Ogg

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).