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 511

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 30 June 1877 Registrar J. O Dermott

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
729	30 April 1877	Ebenezer Stermard Ellen Rose Rogers	Ebenezer Stennard Ellen Rose Rogers 💍 1877/1078	Bachelor Widow	Brewer No Occupation	38 39	Hokitika Hokitika	3 years 1 Week	Registrar's Office Hokitika	77/965	30 April 1877	J. O Dermott Registrar
730	9 April 1877	James Gammoll Bridget Harrington	James Gammall Bridget Harrington 💍 1877/1048	Bachelor Widow	Ginsmith No Occupation	26 30	Hokitika Hokitika	11 months 1 year	St Mary's Church, Hokitika	77/967	9 April 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
731	15 April 1877	Thomas Jones Jane Smeaton	Thomas Jones Jane Smeaton 💍 1877/1079	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman [illegible]	36 26	Hokitika Hokitika	12 years 10 years	Registrar's Office Hokitika	77/974	15 April 1877	J. O Dermott Registrar
732	17 April 1877	David McBracken Sarah Agney	David McCracken Sarah Agney 💍 1877/1049	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Servant	46 30	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 8 days	St Marys Church Hokitika	77/968	17 April 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
733	21 April 1877	James Stark Matilda Field	James Stark Matilda Field 💍 1877/1069	Bachelor Spinster	Miner No Occupation	43 34	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 3 days	Presbyterian Manse Hokitika	77/971	21 April 1877	Revd G. Morice
734	25 April 1877	Henry Thomas Harvey Emma Louisa Fitzimmons	Henry Thomas Harvey Emma Louisa Fitzsimmons 💍 1877/1050	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk No Occupation	36 23	Hokitika Hokitika	4 years 12 years	St Marys Church Hokitika	77/969	25 May 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
735	2 June 1877	Francis Herbert Machattie Mary Ann McGill	Francis Herbert Machaltie Mary Ann McGill 💍 1877/1075	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman No Occupation	25 21	Hokitika Hokitika	5 months 4 years	Presbyterian Manse Hokitika	77/972	2 June 1877	Revd G. Morice
736	2 June 1877	Charles Augustus Webb Mary Ann Kennedy	Charles Augustus Webb Mary Ann Kennedy 💍 1877/1081	Bachelor Spinster	Police Constable Barmaid	23 23	Hokitika Hokitika	3 months 6 weeks	Registrar's Office Hokitika	77/978	2 June 1877	J. O Dermott Registrar
737	2 June 1877	John G Rodgers Bridget Eastwood	John G Rodgers Bridget Eastwood 💍 1877/1080	Bachelor Widow	Mariner No occupation	44 43	Hokitika Hokitika	11 years 11 years	Registrar's Office Hokitika	77/977	2 June 1877	J. O Dermott Registrar
738	4 June 1877	Samuel Hardy Flora McInnes	Samuel Hardy Flora McInnes 💍 1877/1076	Bachelor Spinster	Miner No Occupation	30 19	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 3 days	Presbyterian Manse Hokitika	77/973	4 June 1877	Revd G. Morice
739	21 June 1877	Michael Maher Didelia Mamise	Michael Maher Bidelia Mannix 💍 1877/1058	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer No Occupation	25 20	Arahura Arahura	6 months 4 months	St Marys Church Hokitika	77/970	21 June 1877	Revd P. A. Martin

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).