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 0423

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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
760	6 October 1876	John Alexander Lesslie Mary Ann Smith	John Alexander Lennie Mary Ann Smith 💍 1876/2806 John Simpson Lind Mary Ann Smith 💍 1876/3056 Alexander Cowie Mary Smith 💍 1876/3038	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd Servant	29 22	Pukitapu Napier	2 years 1 year	St Pauls Presbyterian Church Napier	76/2499		6 October 1876	Rev D. Sidey
761	13 October 1876	James Adam Wilkes Alice Larman	James Adams Wilkes Alice Jarman 💍 1876/2929	Widower Spinster	Clerk	31	Napier Napier	9 years 4 years	Rev J.S. Smalley's House	76/3027		13 October 1876	Rev J. S. Smalley
762	21 October 1876	David Pahor Balfour Elizabeth Roberts	David Paton Balfour Elizabeth Roberts 💍 1876/2812	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	35 25	Mangawhare Puketapu	3 years 10 months	Residence of P. Dolbel	76/2685		21 October 1876	Rev P. B. Anderson
763	4 November 1876	Albert Millard Bridget Burns	Albert Millard Bridget Burns 💍 1876/2682	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 17	Clive Puketapu	3 months 3 days	Roman Catholic Chapel	76/2675	No Parents or Guardians etc in Colony	4 November 1876	Rev Father Forest
764	6 November 1876	Thomas Sheehan Bridget Dobson	Thomas Sheehan Bridget Dobson 💍 1876/2683	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	27 30	Napier Napier	18 months 18 months	Roman Catholic Chapel	76/2676		6 November 1876	Rev Father Forest
765	7 November 1876	Robert North Mary Ann Alice Edwards	Robert Northe Mary Ann Alice Earl Somers 💍 1876/2808	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	26 17	Napier Napier	20 years 17 years	House of Mr Thomas Campbell	76/2681	Thomas Campbell, Step Father	7 November 1876	Rev D. Sidey
766	10 November 1876	Lois Brown Sarah Jane Masters	Lois Brown Sarah Jane Masters 💍 1876/2201	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	28 23	Clive Clive	3 years 18 months	Registrar's Office, Napier	76/2384		10 November 1876	Registrar
767	16 November 1876	James Muir Mary Thomas	James Muir Mary Thomas 💍 1876/2800 James Owens Maria Thomas 💍 1876/204	Widower Spinster	Blacksmith	33 19	Havelock Havelock	2 years 9 months	House of Rev D. Sidey	76/2678	Mary Thomas, Mother	16 November 1876	Rev D. Sidey
768	20 November 1876	Henry Golding Hannah Alderman	Henry Golding Hannah Alderman 💍 1876/3055	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	30 18	Havelock Havelock	18 months 2 years	House of Henry Golden	76/3156	Richard Alderman, Father	20 November 1876	Rev W. Marshall

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).