Intentions to Marry, 1877

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840389, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 261

District of Rangitikei Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar J. M. Deighton

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
168	9 January 1877	John Wood Albain Murray	John Wood Albine Murray 💍 1877/17	Widower Widow	Labourer [illegible]	34 38	Upper Rangitikei Upper Rangitikei	2 years 4 months	The Residence of Mr. John all Beth Upper Rangitikei	77/166		9 January 1877	Rev. William Stewart Pres
169	20 January 1877	Thomas Anslow Mary Ann Homett	Thomas Anslow Mary Ann Woodnutt 💍 1877/263	Bachelor Widow	Charcoal Burner [illegible]	56 53	Bulls Bulls	3 years 3 years	The dwelling house of Mr. Thomas Anslow at Bulls	77/165		20 January 1877	H. Bevir Rev. Bowen Wife
170	12 February 1877	Thomas Spay Annie Willford	Thomas Spry Annie Mellford 💍 1877/262	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith [illegible]	21 18	Bulls Bulls	5 years 2 years	The Residence of Mr. Charles Willford Bulls	77/164		12 February 1877	J. J. Garlick Rev. J. Symons Ins
171	28 February 1877	George William Cave Ann Newman	George William Gane Ann Newman 💍 1877/264	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	30 21	Rangitikei Rangitikei	3 Days 10 years	The Church of England Marton	77/169		28 February 1877	Rev. L. L. Wood Wife
172	9 March 1877	Roger Burner Fearson Lilla Edith Simmons	Roger Barnes Fearon Lilla Edith Simmons 💍 1877/265	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer [illegible]	25 22	Bulls Bulls	3 Years 2 Years	St. Stephens Church Marton	77/168		9 March 1877	Rev. A. S. Slogood Wife
173	14 March 1877	August Frederick Agnes Osborn		Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	24 18	Near Marton Oroua	14 Years 5 Years	The Residence of Mr. August Osborn Frederick near Marton	77/162	William Osborn Father	14 March 1877	Rev. William Stewart Pres
174	26 March 1877	Henry Henderson Janet Morrison	Henry Henderson Janet Morrison 💍 1877/261	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer [illegible]	38 20	Marton Fern Flat	20 Years 4 Years	The Residence of Mr. David Morrison Fern Flat	77/163	David Morrison Father	26 March 1877	Rev. William Stewart 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 1899. 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).