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 378

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
488	5 May 1874	James Grimley Fanny A. Ingerson	James Gormley Fanny Luxford 💍 1874/9178	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger Domestic	29 23	Napier Napier	11 months 2½ years	residence of Mr Williams Napier	74/1124		8 May 1874	Rev. R.B. Ridlestone Napier
489	6 May 1874	Alfred Scorgie Elizabeth Wiltshire	Alfred Scorgie Elizabeth Wiltshire 💍 1874/8617	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic	24 20	Napier Napier	5 years 4 years	residence of Mr Leslie Napier	74/937		8 May 1874	Rev. D. Sidey
490	7 May 1874	James Watson Mary J. Fraser	James Watson Mary Fraser 💍 1874/9499	Widower Widow	Mariner Nil	34 36	Napier Napier	20 months 3 days	residence of Mr Lee Napier	74/1236		7 May 1874	Rev. D. Sidey
491	11 May 1874	Wm. Robert Blythe Fanny Maria Robinson	William Robert Blythe Fanny Maria Robinson 💍 1874/9187	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Nil	33 21	Napier Napier	4 years 3 years	residence of Capt. McLean Marenkukuho	74/1127		11 May 1874	Rev. A. Shepherd
492	11 May 1874	Henry Nelson Elizabeth Jane Rowe	Henry Nelson Elizabeth Jane Rowe 💍 1874/8176	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Domestic	35 26	Napier Napier	6 months 2 years	England Church Napier	74/785		11 May 1874	Rev. J. Warren Napier
493	13 May 1874	Mads Steffensen Helena Constantius	Mads Steffinson Helena Christensen 💍 1874/8620	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	22 23	Napier Napier	18 months 1 year	residence of Mr Campbell Napier	74/938		13 May 1874	Rev. D. Sidey
494	20 May 1874	William Henry Coomer Elizabeth Ann Williams	William Henry Coomer Elizabeth Ann Williams 💍 1874/8623	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Nil	24 20	Napier Napier	1 year 3 years	Presbyterian Church Napier	74/939	John Williams Father Napier	20 May 1874	Rev. D. Sidey
495	20 May 1874	William Dewstow Charlotte Williams	William Dewston Charlotte Williams 💍 1874/8626	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	24 18	Napier Napier	2 years 3 years	Presbyterian Church Napier	74/940	John Williams Father Napier	20 May 1874	Rev. D. Sidey
496	26 May 1874	William Anderson Annie Cook	William Anderson Annie Cook 💍 1874/7831	Bachelor Spinster	Mechanic School Mistress	28 23	[UNCLEAR] Farndon	13 years 4 months	Church Meanee	74/666		26 May 1874	Rev. Patrick Augustine Rb
497	1 June 1874	Thos. Foreman Maria Graham	Thomas Foreman Maria Graham 💍 1874/9181	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager Nil	27 25	Clive Napier	4 years 5 years	residence of Mr Rymer Meanee	74/1125		1 June 1874	Rev. R.B. Ridlestone Napier
498	1 June 1874	Daniel Hammon Margareth Fitzgerald	Daniel Hannon Margaret Fitzgerald 💍 1874/8185	Bachelor Spinster	Coach Driver Domestic	21 21	Napier Napier	2 years 1 year	Roman Catholic Church Napier	74/790		1 June 1874	Rev. Patrick Forbes Rb

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

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).