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 417

District of Waimea South Quarter ending 31 March 1873 Registrar Alfred Baigent

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

2 January 1873

William Henry Phillips
Mary Ellen Chattock

William Henry Phillips
Mary Ellen Chattock
💍 1873/6310

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

27
17

Tadmore
Wakefield

10 years
6 years

St John's Church, Wakefield

M 73/507

Richard Chattock, Father

16 January 1873

Rev. C. O. Mules

No	27
Date of Notice	2 January 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Phillips	Mary Ellen Chattock
	💍 1873/6310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Tadmore	Wakefield
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wakefield
Folio	M 73/507
Consent	Richard Chattock, Father
Date of Certificate	16 January 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. O. Mules

27 January 1873

Richard Langman
Mary Rose

Richard Langman
Mary Rose
💍 1873/5794

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
21

Waimea South
Waimea South

4 years
5 years

Wesleyan Chapel, Motueka

M 73/330

27 January 1873

Rev. William Cannell

No	28
Date of Notice	27 January 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Langman	Mary Rose
	💍 1873/5794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Waimea South	Waimea South
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Chapel, Motueka
Folio	M 73/330
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Cannell

27 January 1873

Andrew Gardener
Keziah Hughes

Andrew Gardner
Keziah Hughes
💍 1873/5467

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
18

Fox-hill
Fox-hill

3 years
5 years

Residence of George Gardener, Fox-hill

73/228

Nicholas Samson, Gaurdian

27 January 1873

Rev. William J. Watkin

No	29
Date of Notice	27 January 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Gardener	Keziah Hughes
BDM Match (97%)	Andrew Gardner	Keziah Hughes
	💍 1873/5467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Fox-hill	Fox-hill
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of George Gardener, Fox-hill
Folio	73/228
Consent	Nicholas Samson, Gaurdian
Date of Certificate	27 January 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. William J. Watkin

3 February 1873

Thomas Henry Foy
Alice Wormsett

Thomas Henry Foy
Alice Wimsett
💍 1873/5536

Widower
Spinster

Butcher

33
21

Waimea South
Waimea South

3 days
3 days

Residence of Thomas Foy, Nelson

73/245

3 February 1873

William J. Watkin

No	30
Date of Notice	3 February 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Foy	Alice Wormsett
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Henry Foy	Alice Wimsett
	💍 1873/5536
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Waimea South	Waimea South
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Foy, Nelson
Folio	73/245
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1873
Officiating Minister	William J. Watkin

19 February 1873

Peter Gorrie
Lucy Bird

Peter Gorrie
Lucy Bird
💍 1873/6313

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

26
19

City of Nelson
Waimea South

26 years
15 years

St John's Church, Wakefield

M 73/508

Joshua Bird, Father

15 March 1873

Rev. John Spear

No	31
Date of Notice	19 February 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Gorrie	Lucy Bird
	💍 1873/6313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	Waimea South
Length of Residence	26 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wakefield
Folio	M 73/508
Consent	Joshua Bird, Father
Date of Certificate	15 March 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Spear

24 February 1873

John Feary
Sarah Caldwell Gibbs

John Feary
Sarah Caldwell Gibbs
💍 1873/6316

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

full age
Minor

Wakefield
Wakefield

22 years
12 years

St John's Church, Wakefield

M 73/509

John Gibbs, Father

10 March 1873

Rev. John Spear

No	32
Date of Notice	24 February 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Feary	Sarah Caldwell Gibbs
	💍 1873/6316
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	full age	Minor
Dwelling Place	Wakefield	Wakefield
Length of Residence	22 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wakefield
Folio	M 73/509
Consent	John Gibbs, Father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Spear

7 March 1873

Thomas Walter Yarrell
Sarah Ann Verry

Thomas Walter Yarrall
Sarah Ann Verry
💍 1873/9805

Bachelor
Spinster

Tinsmith

22
19

City of Nelson
Wakefield

6 years
19 years

St John's Church, Wakefield

73/1699

Rhoda Ann Verry, Mother

22 March 1873

Rev. John Spear

No	33
Date of Notice	7 March 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Yarrell	Sarah Ann Verry
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Walter Yarrall	Sarah Ann Verry
	💍 1873/9805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tinsmith
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	City of Nelson	Wakefield
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wakefield
Folio	73/1699
Consent	Rhoda Ann Verry, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 March 1873
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Spear

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).