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 279

District of Wanganui 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
24	1 April 1876	William Robert Goodman Emily Carson	William Robin Goodman Emily Carson 💍 1876/941	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 years 17 years	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 10 months	Roman Catholic Chapel, Wanganui	76/1013	Mary Carson, Mother	1 April 1876	Revd. Father Kirk
25	5 April 1876	David Stuart Isabella Mitchell	David Smart Isabella Mitchell 💍 1876/848	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 years 22 years	Wanganui Wanganui	4 months 2 days	Registrar's Office, Wanganui	76/788		5 April 1876	M. F. South, Registrar
26	10 April 1876	Gottlieb Wrede Ludwile Kayer	Gottlieb Welti Ludwile Rayer 💍 1876/847	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	42 years 35 years	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 days	Registrar's Office, Wanganui	76/787		10 April 1876	M. F. South, Registrar
27	18 April 1876	Edward Andrews Felicia Alexandrina Williamson	Edward Andrews Felicia Alexandrina Williamson 💍 1876/1425	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	40 years 28 years	Waitotara Waireka near Wanganui	2 months 43 years	Residence of Captain Juson	76/1435		18 April 1876	Revd. Mr. Bavin, CofE
28	26 April 1876	Henry Bush Maria Bree	Henry William Bush Maria Bell 💍 1876/851	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	22 years 19 years	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 8 years	In the English Church, Putiki	76/991	Charles Bree, Father	26 April 1876	Revd. B.R. Taylor, CofE
29	29 April 1876	John Campbell Jane Braithwaite	John Annabell Jane Braithwaite 💍 1876/3242	Bachelor Spinster	Member of Civil Service Civil Service	28 years 19 years	Wanganui Wadgowie [?]	Many years At residence of Mr. Braithwaite	Christchurch	76/785	Christina Braithwaite, Mother	29 April 1876	Revd. Mr. Bavin
30	28 April 1876	Hugh Hunter Janette Neilson	Hugh Hunter Janette Neilson 💍 1876/842	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	33 years 19 years	Wanganui Wanganui	2 days 19 years	In the Hotel Wanganui	76/786	James Neilson, Father	28 April 1876	Revd. Mr. Bavin
31	3 May 1876	William Tait Joanna Laurenson	William Tait Joan Lawrenson 💍 1876/831	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 years 24 years	Wanganui Wanganui	1 day At the residence of Mr. Hutchison		76/784		3 May 1876	Revd. Mr. Bavin

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).