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 465

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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
64	22 August 1878	David William Bennett Sarah Walford	David William Bennett Sarah Walford 💍 1878/1935	Bachelor Spinster	Commission Agent	23 21	Napier Napier	9 years 18 months	English Church	78/1885		22 August 1878	Rev H.W. St Hill
65	24 August 1878	James Scott Blair Maude Young	James Scott Blair Maude Young 💍 1878/1938	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	30 22	Clive Clive	1 year 4 days	Residence of C. Bennett	78/1888		24 August 1878	Rev. A. Shepherd
66	26 August 1878	Gerald Ironson Lucy Sarah Collins	Gerald Tronson Lucy Sarah Collins 💍 1878/1942	Bachelor Spinster	A.L. Force	29 21	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	St Johns Church	78/1892		26 August 1878	Rev De Berdt Hovell
67	27 August 1878	John Murray Catherine Moran	John Murray Catherine Moran 💍 1878/3352	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	21 18	Napier Napier	18 years 4 years	St Marys Chapel	78/1868	Joseph Moran, Father	27 August 1878	Rev F. Forest
68	27 August 1878	Charles Boyce Lord Jane Beaumont	Charles Boyce Sarah Jane Beaumont 💍 1878/1936	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	27 25	Clive Clive	2.5 years 4 days	English Church	78/1886		27 August 1878	Rev H.W. St Hill
69	28 August 1878	John Hodgkinson Margaret Carbery	John Hodgkinson Margaret Carbers 💍 1878/1944	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 22	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	2 years 2 years	St Johns Church	78/1893		28 August 1878	Rev De B. Hovell
70	29 August 1878	Samuel Anderson Mary Jane Gill	Samuel Andersen Mary Jane Gill 💍 1878/1955	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 20	Hastings Napier	2 years 10 years	House of Rev D. Sidey	78/1881	Ellen Gill, Mother	29 August 1878	Rev D. Sidey
71	10 September 1878	John Gemmell Elizabeth Mary Webb	John Gemmell Elizabeth Mary Webb 💍 1878/1945	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	29 17	Napier Napier	one week one week	St Johns Church, Napier	78/1894	Matthew Miller, Uncle & Guardian	10 September 1878	Rev De Berdt Hovell
72	11 September 1878	John Harris Mary Jane McDonald	John Harris Mary Jane McDonald 💍 1878/1956	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	21 25	Hastings [illegible]	5 years 2.5 years	House of Rev D. Sidey	78/1882		11 September 1878	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).