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 0469

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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
83	1 October 1878	William Ambrose Buckler Sarah Welch	William Ambrose Amner Sarah Welch 💍 1878/3179	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	28 28	Napier Napier	11 years 11 years	St John's Church, Napier	78/3282		1 October 1878	Rev De Berdt Hovell
84	3 October 1878	John Sherry Will Jane Elizabeth Richards	John Henry Will Jane Elisabeth Richards 💍 1878/2692	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	49 39	Western Spit Western Spit	2 years 6 months	House of Rev D Sidey, Napier	78/2434		3 October 1878	Rev D Sidey
85	3 October 1878	Joseph Leonard Pickards Emily Cook	Joseph Leonard Emily Cook 💍 1878/2676	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	30 22	Napier Napier	18 months 6 months	St Mary's Chapel, Napier	78/2417		3 October 1878	Rev F. Forest
86	9 October 1878	Joshua Mathews Cowell Margaret Levely	Joshua Matthew Cowell Margaret Scully 💍 1878/2689	Widower Spinster	Homeopathic Practitioner	71 39	Napier Napier	9 months 14 days	Registrar's Office, Napier	78/2431		9 October 1878	Registrar of Marriages
87	9 October 1878	William Nelson Julia Stevens	William Nelson Julia Stevens 💍 1878/2693	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	26 25	Port Ahuriri Napier	12 months 5 years	House of Rev D Sidey, Napier	78/2435		9 October 1878	Rev D Sidey
88	14 October 1878	Robert Harrison Gooseman Mary Ann Clifton	Robert Harrison Gooseman Mary Ann Clifton 💍 1878/2699	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	27 17	Havelock Clive	3 years 8 years	Clive Church	78/2423	George Clifton, Father	14 October 1878	Rev W. A. St Hill
89	15 October 1878	Isaac Thomas Elizabeth Franklin	Isaac Thomas Elizabeth Franklin 💍 1878/2688	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 19	Clive Clive	6 months 8 months	Clive Church	78/2422	Laurence Franklin, Father	15 October 1878	Rev W. A. St Hill
90	16 October 1878	Harold Michaelsen Kate Layton Fraser	Harold Michealsen Kate Layton Fraser 💍 1878/2690	Bachelor Spinster	Salesman	23 24	Napier Napier	3.5 years 15 months	Registrar's Office, Napier	78/2432		16 October 1878	Registrar of Marriages
91	28 October 1878	Marsden Clarke Francis Emily Stuart	Marsden Clarke Frances Emily Stuart 💍 1878/3374	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	41 23	Waimate Bay of Islands Napier	41 years 11 months	St John's Church, Napier	78/3284		28 October 1878	Archdn Clarke

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 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).