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 393

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar John Grubb

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
809	3 April 1877	Henry Darmor Gardiner Mary Ann Hutchin	Henry Dormer Gardiner Mary Ann Hutchings 💍 1877/988	Widower Spinster	Baker Servant	40 19	Napier Napier	3 Months 16 months	House of Rev. J. Parkin, Napier	77/907	John Hutchin father	3 April 1877	Rev. I. Parkin
810	5 April 1877	Hannibal Layou Lary Mary Ann Jacobs	Hannibal Lyne Lory Mary Ann Jacobs 💍 1877/987	Widower Widow	Laborer	48 50	Port Ahuriri Napier	2 years 2 years	House of Rev. S. Berry	77/906		5 April 1877	Rev. S. Berry
811	9 April 1877	Joseph Walter Strudwick Jane Anne Soaplein Garne	Joseph Walter Hendwick Jane Ann Josephine Garne 💍 1877/989	Widower Spinster	Constable Housekeeper	35 26	Napier Napier	3 years 3 months	House of I. W. Strudwick	77/908		9 April 1877	Rev. I. Parkin
812	25 April 1877	John Laurenson Jane Ebbett	John Laurenson Jane Ebbett 💍 1877/1007	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman Servant	22 22	Napier Napier	2 years 4 years	Residence of D. Begg Esq	77/903		25 April 1877	Rev. D. Sidey
813	30 April 1877	Donald Sutherland Harriett Joseph	Donald Sutherland Harriet Joseph 💍 1877/1280	Bachelor Spinster	Hotelkeeper	31 21	Napier Napier	3 days 3 weeks	St Johns Church	77/1229		30 April 1877	Rev. I. Townsend
814	5 May 1877	Samuel Mason Wilson Elizabeth Esther Holder	Samuel Mason Wilson Elizabeth Esther Holder 💍 1877/1281	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	28 20	Napier Napier	3 days 2 months	St Johns Church	77/1230	Henry Holder father	5 May 1877	Rev. I. Townsend
815	7 May 1877	John Hunt Elizabeth Jane Williams	John Hunt Elizabeth Jane Williams 💍 1877/991	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Clive Clive	5 years 2 years	Residence of Mr Douglas	77/910		7 May 1877	Rev. I. Shepherd
816	10 May 1877	Arthur Innes Cothrill Julie Moore Stuart	Arthur James Cotterill Julie Moore Stuart 💍 1877/1282	Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	29 21	Napier Napier	3 years 8 years	St Johns Church	77/1231		10 May 1877	Rev. I. Townsend
817	14 May 1877	Thomas Parsons Eliza Le Couteur	Thomas Parsons Eliza Le Couteur 💍 1877/1421	Bachelor Spinster	Ship Farmer	28 20	Puketapu Napier	2 years 2 years	Church	77/1344	to parent or Guardian in the Colony	14 May 1877	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 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).