Intentions to Marry, 1874

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840386, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Page 181

District of Shortland Quarter ending 31 March 1874 Registrar Edward Henry Power

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

449

22 December 1873

Richard Potter
Martha Clark

Richard Potter
Martha Clarke
💍 1874/6106

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

25 years
18 years

Moanataiari
Tararu

4 years
5 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Shortland

74/76

Thomas Clark, "The Father"

6 January 1874

E. H. Power

No	449
Date of Notice	22 December 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Potter	Martha Clark
BDM Match (96%)	Richard Potter	Martha Clarke
	💍 1874/6106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	25 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Moanataiari	Tararu
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Shortland
Folio	74/76
Consent	Thomas Clark, "The Father"
Date of Certificate	6 January 1874
Officiating Minister	E. H. Power

454

30 December 1873

Josias Hoskins
Matilda Sommerton

Josias Hoskin
Matilda Summerton
💍 1874/6133

Bachelor
Spinster

Commission Agent

30 years
19 years

Karaka
Karaka

5 years
4 years

The dwelling house occupied by the Revd. John S. Crump, Hape

74/86

Thomas Sommerton, "The Father"

14 January 1874

The Revd. John Crump

No	454
Date of Notice	30 December 1873
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josias Hoskins	Matilda Sommerton
BDM Match (94%)	Josias Hoskin	Matilda Summerton
	💍 1874/6133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commission Agent
Age	30 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka	Karaka
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house occupied by the Revd. John S. Crump, Hape
Folio	74/86
Consent	Thomas Sommerton, "The Father"
Date of Certificate	14 January 1874
Officiating Minister	The Revd. John Crump

455

5 January 1874

Francis Danby
Mary Ann Morton

Francis Danby
Mary Ann Morton
💍 1874/6115

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner

19 years
19 years

Karaka
Karaka

6 years
17 months

The dwelling house occupied by Samuel Morton, Sealey Street, Karaka

74/79

Samuel Morton, "The Father"

5 January 1874

The Revd. W. Jones

No	455
Date of Notice	5 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Danby	Mary Ann Morton
	💍 1874/6115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner
Age	19 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Karaka	Karaka
Length of Residence	6 years	17 months
Marriage Place	The dwelling house occupied by Samuel Morton, Sealey Street, Karaka
Folio	74/79
Consent	Samuel Morton, "The Father"
Date of Certificate	5 January 1874
Officiating Minister	The Revd. W. Jones

456

6 January 1874

Charles Cox
Mary Ann Brown

Charles Cox
Mary Ann Brown
💍 1874/6142

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

39 years
18 years

Thames
Thames

5 years
5 years

St. George's Church, The Thames

74/89

Robert Samuel Brown, "The Father"

6 January 1874

The Revd. V. Lush

No	456
Date of Notice	6 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Cox	Mary Ann Brown
	💍 1874/6142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	39 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, The Thames
Folio	74/89
Consent	Robert Samuel Brown, "The Father"
Date of Certificate	6 January 1874
Officiating Minister	The Revd. V. Lush

457

6 January 1874

William Dare
Mary Ann Herrick

William Dare
Mary Ann Herrick
💍 1874/6148

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Servant

28 years
22 years

Waiotahi
Waiotahi

5 years
2 years

The dwelling house occupied by the Revd. V. Lush, Mary St., Thames

74/91

21 January 1874

The Revd. V. Lush

No	457
Date of Notice	6 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Dare	Mary Ann Herrick
	💍 1874/6148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Servant
Age	28 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Waiotahi	Waiotahi
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house occupied by the Revd. V. Lush, Mary St., Thames
Folio	74/91
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1874
Officiating Minister	The Revd. V. Lush

458

9 January 1874

David Craiggie
Hannah Smith

David Craigie
Hannah Smith
💍 1874/6130

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
Domestic

40 years
40 years

Hauraki
Thames

6 years
4 years

The dwelling house of Mrs. Vickery, Pollen Street, Thames

74/85

9 January 1874

The Revd. J. Crump

No	458
Date of Notice	9 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Craiggie	Hannah Smith
BDM Match (96%)	David Craigie	Hannah Smith
	💍 1874/6130
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	40 years	40 years
Dwelling Place	Hauraki	Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The dwelling house of Mrs. Vickery, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	74/85
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1874
Officiating Minister	The Revd. J. Crump

459

10 January 1874

Edward James Norris
Elizabeth Reid

Edward James Norris
Elizabeth Reid
💍 1874/6145

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

35 years
22 years

Thames
Kuranui

6 years
4 years

St. George's Church, Thames

74/90

24 January 1874

The Revd. V. Lush

No	459
Date of Notice	10 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Norris	Elizabeth Reid
	💍 1874/6145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	35 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Kuranui
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	74/90
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1874
Officiating Minister	The Revd. V. Lush

460

17 January 1874

William Livingstone
Barbara Blare

William Livingstone
Barbara Blare
💍 1874/6118

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

33 years
24 years

Waiotahi
Waiotahi

5 years
18 months

The dwelling house occupied by William Livingstone, Waiotahi

74/80

17 January 1874

The Revd. David Bruce

No	460
Date of Notice	17 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Livingstone	Barbara Blare
	💍 1874/6118
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	33 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Waiotahi	Waiotahi
Length of Residence	5 years	18 months
Marriage Place	The dwelling house occupied by William Livingstone, Waiotahi
Folio	74/80
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1874
Officiating Minister	The Revd. David Bruce

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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Attribution: This image was digitised by Archives NZ Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga and is republished here under CC BY. It has been cropped and rotated for convenience.

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).