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 377

District of Napier Quarter ending Apr - Jun

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
477	7 April 1874	Francis Lowe Nicoline Olsen	Francis Lowe Nikoline Olsen 💍 1874/11089	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	27 25	Napier Napier	4 years 2 years	Residence of Mr Willis, Havelock	1778		7 April 1874	Rev. Wm. Marshall
478	7 April 1874	Oscar Krogh Ellen Ofstad	Oscar Krogh Ellen Ostad 💍 1874/8608	Bachelor Spinster	Sail Maker Domestic	23 19	Napier Napier	9 Months 2 years	Residence of Mr Krogh, Napier	74/934	Mr. Knardahl, as legal Guardian	8 April 1874	Rev. D. Sidey
479	7 April 1874	Andrew Thornton Danvers Lauretta Sarah Reynolds	Alfred Thornton Danvers Lauretta Sarah Reynolds 💍 1874/11092	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager Nil	32 22	Clive Havelock	11 years 14 years	Residence of Mr Reynolds, Havelock	74/1779		7 April 1874	Rev. Wm. Marshall
480	11 April 1874	James Caldwell Johanna McCarthy	James Caldwell Johanna McCarthy 💍 1874/8182	Bachelor Spinster	Baker Domestic	30 24	Havelock Napier	4 years 14 years	Roman Catholic Church, Napier	74/789	Thos. Mc Carthy, Father	11 April 1874	Rev. Father Byrne
481	13 April 1874	Edwin Bamford Harriet Batham	Edwin Bamford Harriette Batham 💍 1874/8167	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister at Law Nil	28 22	Napier Napier	3 years 3 years	English Church, Napier	74/782		13 April 1874	Rev. J. Townsend
482	17 April 1874	John Vaughan Yeague Celia Elizabeth Johnson	John Vaughan Teague Celia Elizabeth Johnson 💍 1874/8080	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor Nil	28 16	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Napier	74/752	Celia Johnson, Mother	17 April 1874	The Registrar of Marriages
483	17 April 1874	Henry Cooper Marie Gulbranson	Henry Cooper Marie Gulbransen 💍 1874/8170	Widower Spinster	Shepherd Domestic	37 34	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	English Church, Napier	74/783		17 April 1874	Rev. J. Murray
484	20 April 1874	John Lemestie Henrietta McLeay	John Chester Henrietta McLeod 💍 1874/8611	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Cook	32 28	Frasedale Frasedale	5 months 18 months	Residence of Mrs. Wm. Cameron, Napier	74/935		20 April 1874	Rev. D. Sidey
485	29 April 1874	Richard Wm Goldsmith Mary Jane Watts	Richard William Goldsmith Mary Jane Watt 💍 1874/8614	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	27 26	Napier Napier	15 years 15 years	Residence of Mr. Benouf, Napier	74/936		29 April 1874	Rev. J. Berry
486	30 April 1874	Horace Dean Mary Ann Derrick	Horace Dean Mary Jane McDermott 💍 1874/14175	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	20 25	Napier Napier	14 Months 3 days	Congregational Church, Napier	74/784		30 April 1874	Rev. S. Ironside
487	1 May 1874	Stephen Hunk Helena Christian Robinson	Stephen Hunt Helena Christian Robinson 💍 1874/9184	Widower Spinster	Labourer Domestic	44 35	Clive Clive	5 years 1 year	Residence of Mr. Hunk, Clive	74/126		1 May 1874	Rev. A. Shepherd

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 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).