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 395

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1877 Registrar 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
825	04 July 1877	Charles Butter Agatha Teresa M Garvey	Charles Butter Agatha Theresa ODonoghue 💍 1877/1703	Bachelor Spinster	Publican	29 21	Portahuriri Napier	3 months 2 days	Mission Station	77/1658		04 July 1877	Rev. I. Regnier
826	05 July 1877	James Ferguson Rosanna Turner	James Ferguson Rosanna Turner 💍 1877/2163 James Bruce Laura Turner 💍 1878/147	Bachelor Spinster	Manager of Boarding House Establishment	38 19	Clive Clive	2½ years 3 weeks	Havelock Church	77/2106	John Millumer, Father	05 July 1877	Rev. W. Marshall
827	06 July 1877	David Athins Wright Ellen Penyon Goodwin	David Aitken Wright Ellen Penyon Goodwin 💍 1877/2164	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster	30 20	Hastings Hastings	2 years 3 years	Residence of Mr Goodwin	77/2104	William Goodwin, Father	06 July 1877	Rev. W. Marshall
828	06 July 1877	Frederick Gush Elizabeth Berry	Frederick Gusly Elizabeth Berry 💍 1877/1697	Widower Spinster	Teacher	30 20	Napier Napier	6 months 20 years	House of Mr S. Berry, Napier	77/1652	Samuel Berry, Father	07 July 1877	Rev. D. Sidey
829	07 July 1877	Robert Souter Mary Jane Richards	Robert Soutar Mary Jane Richards 💍 1877/1696	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	32 32	Portahuriri Portahuriri	1 month 12 months	House of Rev. D. Sidey	77/1657		07 July 1877	Rev. D. Sidey
830	09 July 1877	Pierre Louis Guillard Jane Jessie Watson	Pierre Louis Guillard Jane Jessie Watson 💍 1877/109	Bachelor Widow	Dairyman House Keeper	29 28	Meanee Meanee	6 months 7 months	Mission House, Meanee	77/1659		09 July 1877	Rev. I. Regnier
831	14 July 1877	Alfred Edward Warmen Elizabeth Margaret Hoff		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 25	Napier Napier	3 years 3 years	St John's Church	77/2002		14 July 1877	Rev. G. M. D. Cossham
832	16 July 1877	Charles Rechal Mary Curren	Charles Reechal Mary Curran 💍 1877/1702	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Servant	35 25	Napier Napier	6 weeks 6 weeks	St Joseph's Church	77/1654		16 July 1877	Rev. I. Kungan
833	16 July 1877	Arthur Henry Wallis Jane Beamish	Arthur Henry Wallis Jane Beamish 💍 1877/1716	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	26 22	Hakuwai Okawa	3 years 7 years	Residence of A. E. Beamish	77/1648		16 July 1877	Rev. E. Anderson

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).