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 415

District of Wairau 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
151	6 July 1874	Alfred Mason Jane Elizabeth Macey	Alfred Mason Jane Elizabeth Macey 💍 1874/9700	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	24 22	Blenheim Blenheim	2 years 4 years	The House of Mr Henry Artney Grover Road Blenheim	1304		6 July 1874	Rev Wm Shirriffs
152	16 July 1874	William Gifford Ellen Elizabeth Reever	William Gifford Esther Elizabeth Reeves 💍 1874/10321	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 21	Spring Creek Spring Creek	16 years 16 years	Spring Creek Chapel	1575		16 July 1874	Rev G. S. Harper
153	3 August 1874	Otto Herman Harry Lungs Louisa Catherine Blogg	Otto Herman Henry Junge Louisa Catrina Klotz 💍 1874/9697	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	36 24	Blenheim Blenheim	5 days 5 days	House of Rev Wm Shirriffs Blenheim	1303		3 August 1874	Rev Wm Shirriffs
154	3 August 1874	Archibald Murray Mary Taylor	Archibald Murray Mary Taylor 💍 1874/9694 Archibald Campbell Margaret Taylor 💍 1874/8863	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	33 25	Blenheim Blenheim	7 days 3 days	House of Rev Wm Shirriffs Blenheim	1302		3 August 1874	Rev: Wm Shirriffs
155	7 August 1874	John Gillespie Ellen Elizabeth Cleary	John Gillespie Ellen Elizabeth Cleary 💍 1874/9364	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	23 21	Lower Wairau Lower Wairau	2 years 6 years	House of Mich Cleary	1190		7 August 1874	Rev A. M. Sauzedu
156	13 August 1874	Nicholas Adams Rebecca Bruwer	Nicholas Adams Rebecca Renwick 💍 1874/10315	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter Domestic Servant	47 44	Blenheim Blenheim	10 years 8 months	House of Rev G.S. Harper Blenheim	1513		13 August 1874	Rev G. S. Harper
157	18 August 1874	Henry Joseph Mace Helen McLea Mowat	Henry Joseph Stace Helen McRae Mowat 💍 1874/9736	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Station Manager	29 23	Awaters Awaters	3 years 2 years	House of Mr Arch Butt	1376		18 August 1874	[UNCLEAR]
158	8 September 1874	Charles Ward Laura Catherine Mary Goulter	Augustine Joseph Charles Ward Laura Catherine Mary Goulter 💍 1874/11482	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	30 18	Upper Wairau Blenheim	17 years 17 years	catholic church Blenheim	1914	Cyrus Goulter, Father of Laura Catherine Mary Goulter	8 September 1874	Rev: A. M. Saurseau

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).