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 420

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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
749	8 August 1876	Leicester Redward Ann Le Moignan	Leicester Redward Ann Le Moignan 💍 1876/2429	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	26 18	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	4 years 2 years	Trinity Church, Napier	76/2310	Ann Le Moignan, mother	8 August 1876	Rev F. S. Smalley, Pres
750	8 August 1876	Thomas Clunil Ellen Howell	Thomas Clunie Ellen Howell 💍 1876/3152	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	28 17	Woodthorpe Woodthorpe	3 years 5 years	House of Mr Howell, Woodthorpe	76/1863	Isaac Howell, Father	8 August 1876	Rev P. C. Anderson, CofE
751	11 August 1876	Paul Northey Jane Spurling Laird	Paul Northey Jane Spurling Laird 💍 1876/1711	Bachelor Saleswoman	Salesman	35 29	Napier Napier	18 months 6 months	St Johns Church	76/1864		11 August 1876	Rev. I Townsend, CofE
752	21 August 1876	Charles Iwane Kaye Ellen Sheppard	Charles Qwane Kaye Ellen Sheppard 💍 1876/1712	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	25 28	Napier Napier	7 months 7 months	St Johns Church, Napier	76/1868		21 August 1876	Rev I Townsend, CofE
753	24 August 1876	Peter Glen Catherine Robertson	Peter Glen Catherine Robottom 💍 1876/1957	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 21	Napier Napier	10 years 10 years	Rev D Sidey's Residence, Napier	76/1875		24 August 1876	Rev D Sidey, Pres
754	30 August 1876	George Hodgson Emma Matthews	George Hodgson Emma Matthews 💍 1876/2430	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	26	Napier Napier	2 years 2 years	[illegible] of A. Dykes, Napier	76/2311	Ann Archibald, Dykes mother and Step Father	30 August 1876	Rev F. S. Smalley, Pres
755	16 September 1876	William Arthur Nalder Alice Fannin	William Arthur Nalden Alice Fannin 💍 1876/3244	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	36 24	Napier Napier	3 days 10 days	St John's Church, Napier	76/1869		16 September 1876	Rev G. M. D'Arcy Irvine, CofE
756	27 September 1876	William Henry Sellars Mary Catherine O'Brien	William Henry Sellars Mary Catherine O'Brien 💍 1876/1685	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	26 25	Napier Napier	6 years 6 years	St Mary's Church, Napier	76/1734		27 September 1876	Rev F Forrest, RC
757	27 September 1876	Francis Collinge Anne Harris	Francis Collinge Anne Harris 💍 1876/1694	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	28 18	Clive Clive	10 years 2 years	House of F. Collinge, Clive	76/1865	John Harris, Father	27 September 1876	Revd Marshall, CofE

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).