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 361

District of Napier 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
438	3 October 1873	Patrick Winclavi Thora Olsen	Patrick Windsor Thora Olsen 💍 1873/4769	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	40 31	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	Roman Catholic Church, Napier	73/1398		3 October 1873	Rev. Father Goutenoire
439	6 October 1873	John Newell Elizabeth Ogilbie	John Newell Elizbeth Ogilvie 💍 1873/8959	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	25 22	Napier Napier	11 years 2 years	residence of Mr Hallett, Napier	73/1410		6 October 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
440	14 October 1873	Geo. Hum. Humphreys Isabella Bain Hamilton	George Henry Humphreys Isobella Bain Naismith 💍 1873/8962	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Nie	28 18	Napier Napier	8 months 2 years	residence of Mr Hamilton, Napier	73/1411	Hamilton, father	14 October 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
442	22 October 1873	Wm. Francis McLoughlin Eliza McLoughlin	William George McLaughlin Eliza McLoughlin 💍 1873/8986	Bachelor Widow	Constable Nil	25 32	Napier Napier	8 months 8 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Napier	73/1419		22 October 1873	Registrar of Marriages, Napier
444	13 November 1873	William Lorkin Jane Craig	William Lorkin Jane Grieg 💍 1873/8968	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic	38 27	Napier Napier	10 years 3 years	Residence of Rev. D. Sidey, Napier	73/1413		28 November 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
445	13 November 1873	Charles Brown Helena Johansen	Charles Brown Helena Johansen 💍 1873/8965	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Domestic	35 31	Napier Napier	10 months 1 year	residence of Rev. D. Sidey, Napier	73/1412		13 November 1873	Rev. D. Sidey
446	15 November 1873	Hanson Wilton Felicia Anne Harricks Walmsley	Hanson Turton Felicia Ann Harriette Walmsley 💍 1873/10564	Bachelor Spinster	Registrar of Deeds Nie	30 25	Napier Napier	2½ years 3 months	Episcopalian Church, Napier	73/1958		15 November 1873	Rev. J. Commons
447	18 November 1873	Charles Nash Sarah Steed	Charles Henry Nash Sarah Steed 💍 1873/10555	Bachelor Spinster	Painter Dressmaker	27 32	Napier Napier	1½ year 1 year	Episcopalian Church, Napier	73/1955		18 November 1873	Rev. J. Commons
448	19 November 1873	Michael Hannon Kate Morrow	Michael Hannon Catherine Moroney 💍 1873/8926	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Domestic	30 25	Napier Napier	5 days 7 years	Roman Catholic Church, Napier	73/1399		19 November 1873	Rev. Father Forest

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).