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 353

District of Napier 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
403	1 April 1873	Thomas McCarthy Ellen David	Thomas McCarthy Ellen Dowd 💍 1873/8029	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Nil	22 16	Napier Napier	7 years 10 years	Roman Catholic Church, Napier	73/1090	Eugene Rogers / J C B, guardian	10 April 1873	Revd. Father Portal
404	7 April 1873	Johannes Bloom Caroline Matilda Frank	Johannes Blom Caroline Matilda Frank 💍 1873/8056	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	21 22	Napier Napier	5 months 9 Months	Episcopalian Church, Napier	73/1099		7 April 1873	Revd. Townsend
405	10 April 1873	John Parsons Maria Gillice	John Parsons Maria Gillice 💍 1873/8044	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	25 22	Meanee Meanee	12 years 6 Months	Office of the Registrar of Marriages	73/1095		10 April 1873	Registrar of Marriages
406	17 April 1873	James Kennedy Jessie Gordon	James Kennedy Jessie Gordon 💍 1873/8086	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	30 28	Napier Napier	1 Week 1 Week	Episcopalian Church, Napier	73/1109		17 April 1873	Rev. J. Townsend
407	21 April 1873	Patrick McCushen Mary Shiels	Patrick McCashion Mary Sheils 💍 1873/8026	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman & Agent Nil	32 22	Taradale Napier	8 years 14 Months	Roman Catholic Church, Napier	73/1089		21 April 1873	Revd. Father Fornb
408	29 April 1873	Daniel Hind Margaret Bray	Daniel Hunt Margaret Bray 💍 1873/8032	Widower Spinster	Constable Domestic	32 21	Napier Napier	3 years 6 months	Roman Catholic Church	73/1091	Since Father Fornb	29 April 1873	Revd. Father Fornb
409	1 May 1873	John Davie McKay Isabella McKenzie	John David McKay Isabella McKenzie 💍 1873/8095	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic	38 19	Napier Napier	3 years 2 years	Residence of Alexr. McKay, Father	73/1112	Duncan McKenzie, Father	1 May 1873	Revd. J. Sidley
410	3 May 1873	John Rush Priscilla Hunt	John Rush Priscilla Hunt 💍 1873/8080	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman Domestic	23 27	Napier Napier	10 Months 6 Months	residence of Mrs. Garry	73/1107		3 May 1873	Rev. J.R. Johnstone
413	28 May 1873	William Coley Margaret Rough	William Clegg Margaret Rough 💍 1873/8104	Bachelor Spinster	Stonemason Domestic	29 21	Petone Taradale	5 years 2½ years	residence of Revd. J. Sidley	73/1116		28 May 1873	Revd. J. Sidley

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).