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 458

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
10	19 January 1878	George William Chipping Annie Bonner	George William Chipping Annie Boumer 💍 1878/413	Widower Spinster	Gardener	34 30	Napier Napier	8 months 1 week	House of Rev. D. Sidey, Napier	78/346		19 January 1878	Rev D. Sidey, Pres
11	21 January 1878	Thomas Mahon Elizabeth Bisson	Thomas Mahon Elizabeth Bessex 💍 1878/415	Bachelor Spinster	Steward	27 19	Napier Napier	5 days 3 months	House of Rev. D. Sidey, Napier	78/348	No Parents or Guardians in the Colony	21 January 1878	Rev D. Sidey, Pres
12	23 January 1878	George Luck Charlotte Rachel Reid	George Tuck Charlotte Rachel Reed 💍 1878/3166	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	21 17	Havelock Napier	3 years 1 month	St Johns Church, Napier	78/3220		23 January 1878	Rev H.W. St Hill
13	24 January 1878	Dennis Chrisholm Donnelson Anna Neilsen	Dennis Christensen Dennison Anna Neilsen 💍 1878/3168	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	24 18	Napier Napier	3 months 4 years	St Johns Church, Napier	78/3222	Anders Neilsen, Father	24 January 1878	Rev H.W. St Hill
14	31 January 1878	William Moroney Jane McShane	William Moroney Jane McShane 💍 1878/397	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Driver	26	Napier Napier	4 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Chapel, Napier	78/352		31 January 1878	Rev J. Forest, RC
15	31 January 1878	Edward John Pascoe Elizabeth Millie	Edward John Pascoe Elizabeth McKee 💍 1878/410	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 24	Napier Napier	6 years 3 years	House of Rev. W. Marshall, Havelock	78/343		31 January 1878	Rev W. Marshall
16	1 February 1878	Thomas Ready Mary Masken	Thomas Reidy Mary Madden 💍 1878/396 Thomas Welby Mary Joyce 💍 1878/1540 Thomas Reader Mary Eliza Butler 💍 1878/1226 Thomas Keane Mary Collins 💍 1878/2321 Thomas Kennedy Mary McManus 💍 1878/2420 Thomas Dudson Mary Manning 💍 1878/594	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22	Napier Napier	1.5 years 6 years	Roman Catholic Church, Napier	78/351	Peter Maddent, Father	1 February 1878	Rev J. Forest, RC
17	5 February 1878	Reshid Charles Ware Christine Mary Barsham	Bethel Charles Ware Christina Mary Barsham 💍 1878/411	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26	West Clive Waitangi	8 months 3 months	English Church, Havelock	78/344		5 February 1878	Rev W. Marshall
18	5 February 1878	Arthur Stephen Skellye Hannah Clemes	Arthur Stephen Hellyer Hannah Elmes 💍 1878/3289	Widower Spinster	Carter	31 20	Napier Napier	2.5 years 20 years	Methodist Chapel, Napier	78/3326	John Clemes, Father	5 February 1878	Rev J. Parkin, United

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).