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 382

District of Napier Quarter ending Jul - Sep

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
515	13 July 1874	Robert Caruthers Hastie Emily Morton	Robert Carruthers Hastie Emily Morton 💍 1874/10015	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper Nil	31 18	Napier Napier	3 weeks 7 years	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Napier	1411	Margaret Miller, Mother	13 July 1874	The Registrar of Marriages
516	20 July 1874	Robert Ashley Warre Braithwaite Caroline Agnes Wilson	Herbert Ashley Warre Braithwaite Caroline Agnes Wilson 💍 1874/13672	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer Nil	29 21	Havelock Napier	10 years 4 years	English Church Napier	74/2669		20 July 1874	Rev. S. Townsend
517	28 July 1874	James Sinclair Eliza Jane Southerland	James Lindin Elizabeth Jane Sutherland 💍 1874/9505	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic	22 22	Havelock Havelock	7 months 6 years	Residence of Mr. Muir Havelock	74/1238		28 July 1874	Rev. J. Shepherd
518	30 July 1874	John Higgin Mary Jeffers	John Higgins Mary Jeffares 💍 1874/10306	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Nil	24 21	Napier Woodville	3 months 15 years	Roman Catholic Church Meanee	1540		30 July 1874	Rev. Father Reignie
519	10 August 1874	Isaiah Lynn Elizabeth Allen	Isiah Lynn Elizabeth Allen 💍 1874/10078	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Nil	38 35	Clive Napier	15 months 18 months	Residence of Mr. Beatty Napier	1431		10 August 1874	Rev. J. Cr. Paterson
520	15 August 1874	William Willis Emily Mansfield	William Willis Emily Mansfield 💍 1874/10081	Bachelor Spinster	Cab driver Domestic	23 22	Napier Napier	5 years 6 months	Residence of Mr. Tuke Napier	1432		15 August 1874	Rev. J. Cr. Paterson
521	17 August 1874	Lewin Davis Blackerton Isabella Whittaker	Lewis Davis Bickerton Isabella Whitaker 💍 1874/10084	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper Nil	27 22	Meanee Napier	6 months 1 week	Residence of Mr Irwin Napier	74/1433		17 August 1874	Rev. A. B. Redstow
522	24 August 1874	Alfred Day Elizabeth Doidge	Alfred Day Elizabeth Doidge 💍 1874/9592	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	25 21	Napier Napier	7 months 7 months	English Church Napier	1268		24 August 1874	Rev. S. Yowman
523	11 September 1874	John McIver Catherine McDonald	John McIvir Catherine McDonald 💍 1874/9514	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Nil	42 35	Napier Havelock	3 days 2 years	Residence of Mr. McDonald Havelock	1241		11 Sept 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).