Intentions to Marry, 1876

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840388, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Alexandra at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

A few of the pages are missing.

Page 245

District of Cambridge Quarter ending 30 June 1876

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
166	4 April 1876	Hamilton Newell Margaret Coombes	Hamilton Newell Margaret Coombes 💍 1876/38	Widower Spinster	Soda-water Manufacturer [illegible]	50 38	Newcastle Newcastle	10 years 1 month	At the house of Mr H. Newell, Newcastle	76/1375	4 April 1876	Revd. Y. Scott
167	11 April 1876	Alexander Lochiel Junr Mary Ann Chapman	Alexander Lockie Mary Ann Chapman 💍 1876/36	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Domestic Servant	21 21	Ngaruawahia Ngaruawahia	2 years 6 months	At the house of W. A. Lochiel Senr, Ngaruawahia	76/1374	11 April 1876	Revd. B. Y. Ashwell
168	15 April 1876	Frederick Taylor Ann Turpin	Frederick Tylor Ann Turpin 💍 1876/1215	Bachelor Widow	Settler Domestic Servant	50 40	Hamilton Auckland	12 years 3 months	At the house of Mr John Davis, Auckland, Newton	76/1256	15 April 1876	Revd. James Wallis
169	9 May 1876	Thomas Charles Hammond Mary Jane Ellis	Thomas Charles Hammond Mary Jane Ellis 💍 1876/1230	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant [illegible]	32 22	Hamilton Tamaki, Auckland	12 months 3 months	At St Matthews Church, Auckland	76/1248	9 May 1876	Revd. R. S. Hassard
170	14 May 1876	Alfred Rysdale Ellen Roberts	Alfred Rysdale Ellen Roberts 💍 1876/1391	Bachelor Spinster	Sawyer Domestic Servant	31 26	Hamilton Hamilton	3 months 3 months	At the Office of the Registrar, Hamilton	76/1382	14 May 1876	B. C. Beale, Registrar
171	5 June 1876	Michael Hamlin Susan Swayne	Michael Hanlin Susan Swayne 💍 1876/34	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	32 22	Cambridge Cambridge	10 years 10 years	At the Roman Catholic Chapel, Hamilton	76/1392	5 June 1876	Revd. Jno Golden
172	6 June 1876	George Given Isabella Harper	George Given Isabella Harper 💍 1876/37	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	33 23	Ohaupo Ohaupo	3 days 5 months	At the house of Mr Jas Harper, Ohaupo	76/1395	6 June 1876	Revd. Y. Scott
173	16 June 1876	Isaac Bates Martha Friers Carnachan	Isaac Bates Martha Friers Carachon 💍 1876/33	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler [illegible]	33 21	Cambridge Cambridge	18 months 12 years	At the Episcopalian Church, Cambridge	76/1391	16 June 1876	Revd. S. P. Neill
174	28 June 1876	Henry Parfitt Ellen Maria Hearn	Henry Parfitt Ellen Maria Kearns 💍 1876/35	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Dress-Maker	25 30	Hamilton Hamilton	2 months 3 months	At the house of Mrs Lees, Hamilton	76/1393	28 June 1876	Revd. Jno Golden

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).