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 261

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1874 Registrar James Townsend Edwards

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

29 January 1874

William Stevens
Elizabeth Parks

William Stevens
Elizabeth Parkes
💍 1874/6259

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
23

Waitotara
Waitotara

8 years
8 years

In the English church at Putiki

74/128

29 January 1874

Revd. B.K. Taylor

No	1
Date of Notice	29 January 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stevens	Elizabeth Parks
BDM Match (97%)	William Stevens	Elizabeth Parkes
	💍 1874/6259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Waitotara	Waitotara
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the English church at Putiki
Folio	74/128
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1874
Officiating Minister	Revd. B.K. Taylor

3 February 1874

Samuel Henry Russell

Samuel Henry Russell
Louisa Morris
💍 1874/6277

Widower
Widow

Carpenter

30
30

Rangitikei
Marton

9 years
8 years

In the house of Louisa Morris at Marton

74/134

3 February 1874

Revd. DM Stuart

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Henry Russell
BDM Match (50%)	Samuel Henry Russell	Louisa Morris
	💍 1874/6277
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carpenter
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Rangitikei	Marton
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Louisa Morris at Marton
Folio	74/134
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1874
Officiating Minister	Revd. DM Stuart

19 March 1874

John Pullinger
Elizabeth Ricketts

John Pullinger
Elizabeth Ricketts
💍 1874/6253

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38 Years
21 years

Maxwelltown
Maxwelltown

10 years
9 months

Schoolhouse Maxwelltown

74/126

19 March 1874

Rev. Mr. McCullum

No	3
Date of Notice	19 March 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pullinger	Elizabeth Ricketts
	💍 1874/6253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38 Years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Maxwelltown	Maxwelltown
Length of Residence	10 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Schoolhouse Maxwelltown
Folio	74/126
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr. McCullum

24 March 1874

Edward Garner
Isabella Robertson May

Edward Garner
Isabella Robertson May
💍 1874/6241

Bachelor
Spinster

malster

38 years
22 Years

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 years
17 years

In the house of David May at Wanganui

74/122

24 March 1874

Rev. John Elmslie

No	4
Date of Notice	24 March 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Garner	Isabella Robertson May
	💍 1874/6241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	malster
Age	38 years	22 Years
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the house of David May at Wanganui
Folio	74/122
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Elmslie

30 March 1874

George Hutchison
Agnes Barbour Hogg

George Hutchison
Agnes Barbour Hogg
💍 1874/6244

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

26 years
19 years

Wanganui
Wanganui

8 years
19 years

Dwelling house of the Rev. David Hogg, Campbell Place, Wanganui

74/123

30 March 1874

Rev. John Elmslie

No	5
Date of Notice	30 March 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hutchison	Agnes Barbour Hogg
	💍 1874/6244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	26 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of the Rev. David Hogg, Campbell Place, Wanganui
Folio	74/123
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Elmslie

30 March 1874

Robert Studholme Thompson
Hana Taukawa Rewiti

Robert Studholme Thompson
Hana Taukawa Rewiti
💍 1874/14131

Bachelor
Widow

no profession

33
40

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 weeks
4 weeks

In the English Church at Putiki

74/2830

30 March 1874

Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	30 March 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Studholme Thompson	Hana Taukawa Rewiti
	💍 1874/14131
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	no profession
Age	33	40
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	In the English Church at Putiki
Folio	74/2830
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1874
Officiating Minister	Registrar

30 March 1874

Edwin Francis Miller
Clara Morton

Edwin Francis Miller
Clara Morton
💍 1874/8116

Bachelor
Widow

Tailor

34 years
26 years

Wanganui
Wanganui

13 months
8 years

In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui

74/764

3 March 1874

Rev. Joseph Berry

No	7
Date of Notice	30 March 1874
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Francis Miller	Clara Morton
	💍 1874/8116
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Tailor
Age	34 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	13 months	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Wesleyan Church, Wanganui
Folio	74/764
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1874
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Berry

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).