Intentions to Marry, 1878

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840390, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, March 5 2025

Page 457

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1878

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
151	3 January 1878	Joseph John Tye Frances Starrutt Cole	Joseph John Tye Frances Harriett Cole 💍 1878/3186	Bachelor Spinster	Auctioneer	28 22	Napier Napier	7 days 4 years	St John's Church, Napier	78/3217		3 January 1878	Rev G. M. D'Arcy Irvine, CofE
152	4 January 1878	John Holdsworth Margaret Chambers	John Holdsworth Margaret Chambers 💍 1878/401	Bachelor Spinster	Manufacturer (Cottonspinner)	27 20	Te Mata Te Mata	3 weeks 20 years	Residence of Mr Chambers, Te Mata	78/356	Father	4 January 1878	Rev R. Shepherd, Pres
153	7 January 1878	John Scruby Giblin Alice Mary Chambers	John Seruby Giblin Alice Mary Chambers 💍 1878/400	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	28 22	Havelock Te Mata	8 years 20 years	Residence of Mr Chambers, Te Mata	78/353		7 January 1878	Rev R. Shepherd, Pres
154	8 January 1878	William Coker Mary Waters	William Coker Mary Waters 💍 1878/398 William Alder Charlton Martha Waters 💍 1878/2629	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	21 19	Spit Clive	3 years 4 years	Trinity Church, Napier	78/353	Father	8 January 1878	Rev S. Berry, Wes
155	10 January 1878	Harry Sherwood Ruddock Annie Hamer	Harry Sherwood Ruddock Annie Hamer 💍 1878/97	Bachelor Spinster	Ironmonger	32 24	Napier Onehunga	15 months 24 years	[illegible]	Auckland		1878
156	17 January 1878	James Lean Dynapia Furze	James Lean Zenobia Furze 💍 1878/3187	Bachelor Spinster	Station Hand	24 42	Havelock East Clive	2 years 5 years	St John's Church, Napier	78/3218		17 January 1878	Rev H. W. St Hill, CofE
157	18 January 1878	Robert David Sweetapple Martha Shepherd	Robert David Sweetapple Martha Shepherd 💍 1878/3165	Bachelor Spinster	Cordial Manufacturer	29 20	Napier Napier	11 years 20 years	St John's Church, Napier	78/3219		18 January 1878	Rev H. W. St Hill, CofE
158	19 January 1878	Robert Rowland Durant Elizabeth Ann Dowell	Robert Rowland Durrunt Elizabeth Ann Dowsett 💍 1878/414	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	28 21	Napier Napier	3 years 2 years	House of Rev D. Sidey, Napier	78/347		19 January 1878	Rev D. Sidey, Pres
159	19 January 1878	Charles Albert Cleveland Mary Louisa Cross	Charles Albert Heald Mary Louise Crosland 💍 1878/3167	Bachelor Spinster	Station Master	29 25	Napier Napier	3 years 1 week	St John's Church, Napier	78/3221		19 January 1878	Rev H. W. St Hill, CofE

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

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).