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 396

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1877

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
834	27 July 1877	Charles Phelip Lound Mary Lounsa Ann Gates	Charles Philip Lound Mary Louisa Ann Yates 💍 1877/2062	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	27 35	Napier Napier	16 years 16 years	St John's Church	77/2003		27 July 1877	Rev. G. M. D'Arcy Irvine
835	28 July 1877	Richard Mant Stiller Mary Saru Edser	Richard Mant Miller Mary Jane Edser 💍 1877/1709	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	33 18	Napier Napier	3 years 3 years	Residence of Mr A. Edser	77/1664	Alfred Edser, Father	28 July 1877	Rev. S. Berry
836	30 July 1877	Charles Villers Robina Agusta Kain	Charles Villers Robina Agnes McKain 💍 1877/1705	Bachelor Spinster	Store Keeper	39 20	Petane Petane	20 years 20 years	House of Mr Kain	77/1660		30 July 1877	Rev. S. Rignier
837	30 July 1877	William Ashton Jam Stottland	William Ashton Jane Holland 💍 1877/1708	Bachelor Widow	Fitter	35 27	Napier Napier	7 years 3 years	In Ashton's house Carlyle St.	77/1663		30 July 1877	Rev. S. Berry
838	09 August 1877	George Love Cenma Merryman	George Love Emma Merryman 💍 1877/2063	Widower Spinster	Farmer	29 24	Hastings Hastings	4 years 5 months	St John's Church	77/2004		09 August 1877	Rev. G. M. D'Arcy Irvine
839	09 August 1877	Preor Harne Wilhermina Leffcoat		Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	22 16	Napier Clive	5 weeks 4 years	House of Home Leffcoat	77/2108	Thummer Leffcoat, Father	09 August 1877	Rev. W. Marshall
840	14 August 1877	Charles Stuart Maria Howard	Charles Stewart Maria Howard 💍 1877/1698	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic Servant	22 25	Portahuriri Portahuriri	10 years 3 years	House of Rev. D. Sidey	77/1653		14 August 1877	Rev. D. Sidey
841	17 August 1877	Leppe Jensen Line Kornelus Larsen	Jeppe Sensen Line Cornelius Larsen 💍 1877/2064	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	29 33	Rukahu Napier	2 years 2 years	House of Leppe Jensen	77/2005		17 August 1877	Rev. W. St. Hill
842	20 August 1877	Henry Brown Darah Ann Georgia Buckingham	Henry Brown Sarah Ann Georgina Buckingham 💍 1877/1699	Widower Spinster	Gasmanager	32 17	Napier Napier	2 years [illegible]	Mr Buckingham's House	77/1654	George Buckingham, Father	20 August 1877	Rev. D. Sidey

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).