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 564

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1876

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

686

22 February 1876

Patrick Joseph Whelan
Ellen Josephine Caroline White

Patrick Joseph Whelan
Ellen Josephine Caroline White
💍 1876/510

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Servant

28 years
21 years

Arahura
Hampden St, Hokitika

10 years
2 years

In St Mary's Church, Hokitika

76/433

22 February 1876

Rev. P. A. Martin

No	686
Date of Notice	22 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph Whelan	Ellen Josephine Caroline White
	💍 1876/510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Servant
Age	28 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Arahura	Hampden St, Hokitika
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In St Mary's Church, Hokitika
Folio	76/433
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Martin

687

24 February 1876

William Joseph O'Brien
Elizabeth Ryan

William Joseph O'Brien
Elizabeth Ryan
💍 1876/509

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Housemaid

28 years
27 years

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
1 Month

In St Mary's Church, Hokitika

76/434

24 February 1876

Rev. P. A. Martin

No	687
Date of Notice	24 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph O'Brien	Elizabeth Ryan
	💍 1876/509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Housemaid
Age	28 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	1 Month
Marriage Place	In St Mary's Church, Hokitika
Folio	76/434
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. A. Martin

688

26 February 1876

Josiah Cockerill
Bridget Kelly

Josiah Cockerill
Bridget Kelly
💍 1876/491

Bachelor
Widow

Miner

35 years
33 years

Hokitika
Hokitika

3 days
3 days

In the office of the Registrar, Hokitika

76/440

26 February 1876

H. A. Stratford, Registrar

No	688
Date of Notice	26 February 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Cockerill	Bridget Kelly
	💍 1876/491
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner
Age	35 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the office of the Registrar, Hokitika
Folio	76/440
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1876
Officiating Minister	H. A. Stratford, Registrar

689

1 March 1876

Richard Nancarrow
Philippa Anna Fosbery

Richard Nancarrow
Philippa Ann Fosbery
💍 1876/505

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer

33 years
20 years

Greymouth
Hokitika

10 years
5 weeks

In All Saints Church, Greymouth

76/430

Not any person in Colony authorized to give consent

1 March 1876

Rev. W. A. Pascoe, CofE

No	689
Date of Notice	1 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Nancarrow	Philippa Anna Fosbery
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Nancarrow	Philippa Ann Fosbery
	💍 1876/505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer
Age	33 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Hokitika
Length of Residence	10 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	In All Saints Church, Greymouth
Folio	76/430
Consent	Not any person in Colony authorized to give consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Pascoe, CofE

690

15 March 1876

Frederick Arnold Thorpe
Rose Ann Jackson

Frederick Arnold Thorpe
Rose Ann Jackson
💍 1876/110

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
No occupation

29 years
19 years

Woodstock, 8 mile
Hokitika

3 years
4 years

In the private residence of Mr John Jackson, Gibson's Quay, Hokitika

76/128

John Jackson, the father of Rose Ann Jackson

15 March 1876

Rev. Mr Rishworth, Pres

No	690
Date of Notice	15 March 1876
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Arnold Thorpe	Rose Ann Jackson
	💍 1876/110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	No occupation
Age	29 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Woodstock, 8 mile	Hokitika
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the private residence of Mr John Jackson, Gibson's Quay, Hokitika
Folio	76/128
Consent	John Jackson, the father of Rose Ann Jackson
Date of Certificate	15 March 1876
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mr Rishworth, Pres

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).