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 299

District of Manganui 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
43	5 April 1873	Thomas Bermull Hoone Frances Bail	Thomas Bennett Horne Frances Bail 💍 1873/9985	Bachelor Widow	Shopman	32 years 42 years	Manganui Manganui	6 years 10 years	at the residence of Frances Bail	73/1461		5 April 1873	Rev Mr Berry
44	9 April 1873	David Ross Jane Strachan	David Ross Janet Strachan 💍 1873/10003	Bachelor Spinster	Wheelwright	29 years 23 years	Hanganui Wanganui	10 years 16 years	at the residence of Mrs David Strachan	73/1767		9 April 1873	Rev J Elmslie
45	17 April 1873	Allan Sambertin Campbell Harriet McKenzie	Allan Tamberline Campbell Harriet McKenzie 💍 1873/9319	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 years 21 years	Brunswich District Wanganui	20 years 21 years	at the Church Parawanui	73/1531		17 April 1873	Rev Mr Donal
46	1 May 1873	Thomas Stephens Annie Brooks	Thomas Stephens Annie Brooks 💍 1873/5722	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 years 16 years	Manganui Manganui	4 years 16 years	The English church at Ruliki	73/304	William Caines, Guardian	1 May 1873	Rev Basil Taylor
47	19 May 1873	Alexander Morrison Esther King	Alexander Morrison Esther King 💍 1873/9988	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	22 years 19 years	Wanganui Wanganui	8 years 10 years	at the Wesleyan Chapel Wanganui	73/1762	James King, Father	19 May 1873	Rev Joseph Berry
48	23 May 1873	Henry Caddy Eliza James	Henry Caddy Eliza James 💍 1873/6382	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	29 years 27 years	Manganui Manganui	5 years 12 months	Church Ruliki	73/532		23 May 1873	Rev Basil Taylor
49	4 June 1873	Francis Fouyn Mere Te Uru	Francis Foyson Mary Te Uru 💍 1873/5698	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	52 years 45 years	Kaninihi Wanganui River	3 years 45 years	at the Roman Catholic Church Wanganui	73/299		4 June 1873	Rev Father Tresallet
50	9 June 1873	John Philips Cecilia McLean Reia	John Phillips Cecilia McLean Reid 💍 1873/10006	Bachelor	Labourer	31 years 19 years	Nangaehu No. 2 Line, Turanganui District	2 years 19 years	at the Residence of William Reid	73/1768	William Bould, Father	9 June 1873	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 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).