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 561

District of Hokitika Quarter ending 31 March 1877 Registrar J. 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	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
713	1 January 1877	John Light Elizabeth Brayshaw	John Light Elizabeth Brayshaw 💍 1877/446	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Occupation	35 20	Hokitika Hamer, District of Hokitika	7 Days 10 Years	Church of England	77/357	James Brayshaw, The Father	1 January 1877	Revd Mr Pascoe
714	15 January 1877	William Sutherland Wilson Jacobine Reimmers	William Sutherland McKenzie Jacobine Reimmers 💍 1877/444	Bachelor Spinster	Baker [illegible]	33 26	Hokitika Hokitika	3 months 3 days	Manse	77/349		15 January 1877	Revd Mr Morice
715	4 January 1877	Niel Gray Adelaide Howorth	Niel Gray Adelaide Howarth 💍 1877/443	Bachelor Widow	Miner [illegible]	39 26	Hokitika Hokitika	4 days 4 days	Presbyterian	77/348		4 January 1877	Revd Mr Morice
716	22 January 1877	Antonio Accotino Jane Hunter	Antonio Accolina Jane Hunter 💍 1877/472	Bachelor Spinster	Miner [illegible]	25 31	Hokitika Hokitika	1 month 1 month	Registrar's Office	77/354		22 January 1877	J. Dermott, Registrar
717	24 January 1877	William Gerran Runcie Cecilia Agnes Green	William Girvan Runcie Cecilia Agnes Green 💍 1877/451	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk [illegible]	34 23	Hokitika Dunganville	10 Years 3 days	Presbyterian Church, Greymouth	77/333		24 January 1877	Revd Mr Douglass
718	26 January 1877	George Simpson Henrietta Flanagan	George Simpson Henrietta Flanagan 💍 1877/434	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier Hotelkeeper	24 23	Greymouth Hokitika	4 Years 3 months	Barrett's Hotel, Greymouth	77/340		26 January 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
719	29 January 1877	Edward Hall Mary M'Carthy	Edward Hall Mary McCarthy 💍 1877/435	Bachelor Widow	Butcher Servant	27 32	Hokitika Hokitika	4 months 4 Years	Saint Mary's Church	77/341		29 January 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
720	7 February 1877	Martin Eller Anna Kramer	Martin Eller Anna Kramer 💍 1877/436	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet maker [illegible]	24 22	Hokitika Hokitika	18 months 14 days	Saint Mary's Church	77/342		7 February 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
721	12 February 1877	Stephen Loughlin White Ellen Lalor	Stephen Loughlin McNeil Ellen Salon 💍 1877/438	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Servant	38 27	Hokitika Hokitika	2 months 2 months	Saint Mary's Church	77/344		12 February 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
722	12 February 1877	Bernard Delargy Margaret Davoren Taveran	Bernard Delargy Margaret Davoren 💍 1877/437	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Housemaid	32 28	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 3 years	Saint Mary's Church	77/343		12 February 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
723	12 February 1877	Michael Houlahan Catherine Murphy	Michael Houlahan Catherine Murphy 💍 1877/439	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer Occupation	32 26	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 3 days	Church	77/345		12 February 1877	Revd P. A. Martin
724	15 February 1877	Andrew In Mahon Annie Gilmore	Andrew McMahou Annie Gilmore 💍 1877/473	Bachelor Spinster	Printer Occupation	34 28	Hokitika Hokitika	2 Years 4 Years	Registrar's Office	77/355		15 February 1877	J. Dermott, Registrar
725	24 February 1877	William Campbell Jane Teresa Collins	William Campbell Jane Teresa Collins 💍 1877/441	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Occupation	24 19	Hokitika Hokitika	6 Years 4 Years	Private residence	77/346	Patrick Collins, The Father	24 February 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).