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 720

District of Timaru 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
76	13 November 1876	Michael Fitzgerald Alice Mullin	Michael Fitzgerald Alice Mullin 💍 1876/2621	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener Servant	36 28	Timaru Timaru	5 months 5 days	Roman Catholic Church, Timaru	76/2707		16 November 1876	Rev. Jean A Goutevnoire, R.C.
77	17 November 1876	Henry Martin Elizabeth Endean	Henry Marten Elizabeth Euden 💍 1876/2625 Henry Pearson Elizabeth Carson 💍 1876/2973 Henry Marryatt Elizabeth Daniels 💍 1876/699 Henry Hill Elizabeth Anderson 💍 1876/2205 Henry Dorreen Elizabeth Johnson 💍 1876/2731	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	24 20	Timaru Timaru	18 months 2 months	Residence of Mr. [illegible]	76/2771		17 November 1876	Mr. B. Oliver, Min.
78	21 November 1876	Henry Williams Sarah Ann Taylor	Henry William Potter Sarah Ann Taylor 💍 1876/2626 George Millar Clara Ann Taylor 💍 1876/888	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 29	Timaru Timaru	2 months 14 days	St Mary's Church Timaru	76/2772		21 November 1876	Rev. Mr. B. Oliver, Min.
79	21 November 1876	Thomas George Graham Mary Taplin	Thomas George Graham Mary Taplin 💍 1876/2248	Bachelor Spinster	Cook Servant	28 23	Timaru Timaru	9 days 2 years	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru	76/2449		21 November 1876	Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
80	9 December 1876	Augustus Thompson Elizabeth Looney	Augustus Thompson Elizabeth Gosney 💍 1876/2850 Robert Thompson Elizabeth Couper 💍 1876/1538	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Servant	23 21	Timaru Timaru	2 years 2 years	Residence of A. Thompson	76/2898		9 December 1876	Charles E. Ward, Prim.
81	12 December 1876	James Rodgers Mary O'Brien	James Wilson Mary OBrien 💍 1876/2326	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	34 25	Timaru Timaru	3 years 4 years	Sophia Street Roman Catholic Church, Timaru	76/2768		12 December 1876	Rev. Jean A Goutevnoire, R.C.
82	12 December 1876	William Ward Elizabeth Ellen Athinson	William Ward Elizabeth Ellen Atkinson 💍 1876/2627	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	23 20	Otipua Otipua	3 years 3 years	Wesleyan Chapel, Pareora	76/2773	John Ward, father, Wesleyan	12 December 1876	Rev. B. Oliver, Min.
83	21 December 1876	Robert Patterson Isabella Sourdan	Robert Paterson Isabella Sourdon 💍 1876/2249 Robert Paterson Isabella Farquharson 💍 1876/1046	Widower Spinster	Farmer Servant	37 23	Timaru Opawa	6 months 4 months	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru	76/2450		21 December 1876	Registrar of Marriages, Timaru
84	28 December 1876	Henry Thomas Margaret Richards	Henry Thomas Margaret Richards 💍 1876/2275	Bachelor Spinster	Mail Contractor Servant	28 29	Timaru Timaru	2 years 4 days	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Timaru	76/2457		28 December 1876	Registrar of Marriages, Timaru

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).