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 399

District of Waipukurau 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
154	4 April 1876	James David Gollan Charlotte Thom	James David Gollan Charlotte Thom 💍 1876/1819	Bachelor Spinster	Settler Domestic	34 23	Oherima Waipukurau	4 Years 4 Years	In the School House, Waipukurau	76/1496		4 April 1876	Rev. Robert Fraser, Pres
155	17 April 1876	Peter Hansen Skjath Maria Caroline Brandt	Peter Hansen Skjeth Maria Caroline Brandt 💍 1876/745	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	32 25	Hampden Hampden	5 Months 3 Weeks	In the house of William Hall, Hampden	76/1854		17 April 1876	Rev. Joseph White, United
156	22 May 1876	James O'Brian Mary Jane Tretheway	James O'Brian Mary Jane Crethewy 💍 1876/1195	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Nil	40 38	Kaikora Kaikora	5 Months 5 Months	In the house of Mary Jane Tretheway, Kaikora	76/1814		22 May 1876	Rev. George Reignier, R.C.
157	22 May 1876	William Henry Lebley Margaret Rose	William Henry Sebby Margaret Ross 💍 1876/1820 William Henderson Margaret Park 💍 1876/2064 William Gardner Margaret Bolger 💍 1876/2545 William Graham Margaret Moir 💍 1876/478 William Dober Margaret Robinson 💍 1876/1830	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	28 22	Waipukurau Waipukurau	9 Years 1 Year	In the house of J. H. Gollan, Waipukurau	76/1494		22 May 1876	Rev. Robert Fraser, Pres
158	23 May 1876	John Hunter Bovaird Mary Brabazon	John Hunter Bovaird Mary Brabazon 💍 1876/945	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	39 26	Waipukurau Waipukurau	12 Years 11 Months	In the Parsonage, Waipukurau	76/1014		23 May 1876	Rev. Joseph Shearman, CofE
159	25 May 1876	Thomas Boyle Georgina Miles	Thomas Royle Georgina Miles 💍 1876/747	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	30 24	Te Aute Te Aute	5 Years 2 Years	In the Church at Te Aute	76/1856		25 May 1876	Rev. Samuel Williams, CofE
160	6 June 1876	Henry Hancock Bone Ada Elizabeth Jannin	Henry Hancock Bone Ada Elizabeth Fanwin 💍 1876/742	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	16 18	Wautukai Wautukai	5 Years 1 Year	In the house of Joseph Witherow, Wautukai	76/1852	Ann Mary Bone, Mother; George Thomas Jannin, Father	6 June 1876	Rev. Joseph White, United

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).