Intentions to Marry, 1875

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840387, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

This register is quite fragile and some of the pages are damaged or even missing.

Page 365

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1875

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
667	25 November 1875	George Lindsay Macgoliwath Maria Theresa Leary	Charles George Lindsay Margobouth Maria Theresa Carter 💍 1875/2986	Bachelor Widow	Corn Agent Nil	31 28	Napier Napier	7 years 20 years	English Church, Napier	75/2894		25 November 1875	Rev. J. Wawnan
668	25 November 1875	Charles Bill Stevens Eliza Hepting		Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist Nil	22 20	Napier Napier	1 1/2 years 2 years	English Church, Napier	75/2893	Parents at present in the Colony	25 November 1875	Rev. J. Wawnan
669	30 November 1875	Stephen Childs Anna Eliza Russell	Stephen Childs Anna Eliza Bussell 💍 1875/2331	Bachelor Widow	Coach driver Domestic	29 31	Farewell Farewell	8 years 1 year	Residence of Mr. Richardson, Farewell	75/2439		30 November 1875	Rev. P. Richardson
670	30 November 1875	Duncan McRae Ellen Scullins	Duncan McRae Ellen Scullin 💍 1875/3013	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Domestic	42 22	West Clive West Clive	17 years 1 year	Residence of Mr. Richardson, Napier	75/2424		30 November 1875	Rev. P. B. Richardson
671	2 December 1875	James Scott Fanny Hills	James Scott Fanny Hills 💍 1875/2988	Widower Widow	Coachsmith Nil	32 37	Napier Napier	3 years 9 years	Residence of English Church, Napier	75/2896		1 December 1875	Rev. J. Wawnan
672	7 December 1875	Thomas Wm. Digby Emily Louisa Lockyer	Thomas William Digby Emily Louisa Lockyer 💍 1875/2987	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger Nil	30 21	Napier Napier	3 years 1 year	English Church, Napier	75/2895		7 December 1875	Rev. J. Wawnan
673	11 December 1875	Robert Wilkin Eliza Dart	Robert Wilkin Eliza Dart 💍 1875/3010	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager Domestic	38 22	E. Clive Napier	12 years 2 Weeks	Residence of Mr. Campbell, Napier	75/2421		11 December 1875	Rev. J. Campbell
674	11 December 1875	Alfred Stuart Mary Ann Waters	Alfred Stuart Mary Ann Waters 💍 1875/2845	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman Domestic	23 22	Napier Napier	2 1/2 years 6 years	Residence of Mr. Walley, Napier	75/3099		11 December 1875	Rev. W. Walley
675	14 December 1875	Arie Schedle Mary Laurensun	Arie Scheele Mary Laurenson 💍 1875/2336	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Domestic	25 23	Napier Napier	1 1/2 Months 1 year	Residence of Mr. Windus, Napier	75/2444		14 December 1875	Rev. D. Sidey

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

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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).