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 527

District of Hokitika 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
587	6 October 1873	Bartholomew Dowell Amelia Johnson	Bartholemew Dowell Amelia Johnson 💍 1873/9424	Widower Spinster	Hotelkeeper Barmaid	37 22	Hokitika Hokitika	6 years 13 months	All Saints Church	73/7567		October 6th	Archd H. Harper
588	25 October 1873	Henry Summers Andrews Matilda Cloria Beach	Henry Summers Andrews Matilda Elvira Beach 💍 1873/8860	Bachelor Spinster	Tinsmith Servant	25 23	Hokitika Hokitika	2 months 1 week	Office of the Registrar of B., D. & Marriages	73/1376		Oct-25	Registrar of Births Deaths & Marriages Hokitika
589	17 November 1873	Harry Charles Falke Jessie Ellen King	Henry Chades Falke Jessie Ellen King 💍 1873/9517	Bachelor Spinster	Miner	31 16	Arahura Hokitika	4 years 12 mos	All Saints Church	73/1600	Elizabeth King, mother	Nov-17	Ven Archd H. Harper
590	22 November 1873	Michael Treacy Eliza Keelan	Michael Treacy Eliza Keelan 💍 1873/8857	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer No occupation	35 18	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 3 weeks	Residence of Mr P. Ward, Christchurch	73/1375		Nov-22	Rev. Father Chareyre
591	2 December 1873	John Olson Eliza Davy Blithe	John Olsen Eliza Davy Blithe 💍 1873/8866	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 19	Arahura Arahura	4 years Under Age	Wesleyan Church Hokitika	73/1378	William Blithe, Father	Dec-2	Rev. Jno Rishworth
592	16 December 1873	James Wilgess Freeman Adelaide Rosina Miller	James Wilgoers Freeman Adelaide Rosina Miller 💍 1873/9631	Bachelor Widow	Hotelkeeper	45 40	Kanieri Kanieri	8 years 8 years	All Saints Church	73/1639		Dec-16	Ven Archd H. Harper
593	19 December 1873	Philemon Travis Ellen Lichter Bergen	Philemon Travis Ellen Lichten Bergen 💍 1873/8863	Bachelor Widow	Hotelkeeper	45 35	Hokitika Hokitika	5 years 5 years	Bellevue Hotel, Sale St	73/1377		Dec-19	Rev. Mr Kirkland
594	31 December 1873	Thomas Burns Marriaw Downs	Thomas Burns Marrian Downs 💍 1874/6724	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	36 25	Kanieri Globe Hotel, Halfway House, Kanieri Road	8 years 2 years	Globe Hotel, Halfway House	74/284		Dec-31	Rev. P.A. Martin

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).