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 293

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1873

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

18 January 1873

Frederick Morris Spurdle
Priscilla Fanny Browne

Frederick Morris Spurdle
Priscilla Fanny Browne
💍 1873/5767

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
21

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 years
3 years

Private residence of F. M. Spurdle, Wanganui

M73/322

18 January 1873

Rev. Mr. Berry

No	35
Date of Notice	18 January 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Morris Spurdle	Priscilla Fanny Browne
	💍 1873/5767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of F. M. Spurdle, Wanganui
Folio	M73/322
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. Berry

28 January 1873

Robert John Burhett Gray
Maggie Fraser

Robt John Burkett Gray
Maggie Fraser
💍 1873/6418

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

38
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 years
3 years

Residence of J. W. Knowles, Wanganui

M73/546

28 January 1873

Rev. Wm. Hogg

No	36
Date of Notice	28 January 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Burhett Gray	Maggie Fraser
BDM Match (94%)	Robt John Burkett Gray	Maggie Fraser
	💍 1873/6418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. W. Knowles, Wanganui
Folio	M73/546
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Hogg

10 February 1873

John Morgan
Roseanna Devall

John Morgan
Rose Ann Devalion
💍 1873/4808

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

27
20

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 years
5 years

Residence of George Devall

M73/304

10 February 1873

Rev. Father Tresellat

No	37
Date of Notice	10 February 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morgan	Roseanna Devall
BDM Match (82%)	John Morgan	Rose Ann Devalion
	💍 1873/4808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Devall
Folio	M73/304
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Tresellat

28 February 1873

Andrew Duncan
Elizabeth Robertson Beya

Andrew Duncan
Elizabeth Robertson Boyd
💍 1873/6421

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

67
33

Wanganui
Wanganui

30 years
2 years

Residence of Rev. David Hogg

M73/547

28 February 1873

Rev. David Hogg

No	38
Date of Notice	28 February 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Duncan	Elizabeth Robertson Beya
BDM Match (96%)	Andrew Duncan	Elizabeth Robertson Boyd
	💍 1873/6421
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	67	33
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	30 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. David Hogg
Folio	M73/547
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Hogg

12 March 1873

John Brown
Elizabeth Smith

John Brown
Elizabeth Smith
💍 1873/4766

Bachelor
Spinster

Toll Collector

36
27

Wanganui
Wanganui

9 years
10 days

Residence of Thomas Reid

73/538

12 March 1873

Rev. John Elmslie

No	39
Date of Notice	12 March 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown	Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1873/4766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Toll Collector
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	9 years	10 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Reid
Folio	73/538
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Elmslie

22 March 1873

George Mitchell
Elizabeth Ross

George Mitchell
Elizabeth Ross
💍 1873/10615

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Kai iwi
Kai iwi

9 years
3 days

Residence of George Mitchell

M73/539

22 March 1873

Rev. John Elmslie

No	40
Date of Notice	22 March 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mitchell	Elizabeth Ross
	💍 1873/10615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Kai iwi	Kai iwi
Length of Residence	9 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of George Mitchell
Folio	M73/539
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Elmslie

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).