Intentions to Marry, 1879

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840391, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 453

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1879

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
14	5 April 1879	Hans Olsen Lina Nelson	Hans Olsen Lina Nilsen 💍 1879/1156	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	26 38	Napier Napier	4 days 3 years	Wesleyan Parsonage	79/1114		5 April 1879	Rev. W. C. Oliver
15	18 April 1879	John Simmons Louisa Taylor	John Simmons Louisa Taylor 💍 1879/1191	Bachelor Spinster	Porter	22 18	Napier Napier	2 years 5 years	St Johns Church	79/1126	James Taylor, Father	18 April 1879	Rev. De Berdt Hovell
16	19 April 1879	William Smith Sarah Monk	William Smith Sarah Monk 💍 1879/1150	Bachelor Spinster	Carriage Builder	25 26	Napier Napier	5 years 3 years	Residence of J. Tuxford	79/1108		19 April 1879	Rev. D. Sidey
17	23 April 1879	Garrett Murnane Bridget McKenny	Garrett Murnane Bridget McNamara 💍 1879/1155	Bachelor Spinster	Hotel Keeper	26 19	Napier Napier	4 years 3 years	St Mary's Chapel	79/1113	No Parent or Guardian in the Colony	23 April 1879	Rev. F. Forest
18	24 April 1879	William Osborn Jane Eliza Bell	William Wilson Brown Jane McGill Bell 💍 1879/107	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	32 32	Napier Napier	6 days 3 days	St Johns Church	79/1125		24 April 1879	Rev. W. Williams
19	25 April 1879	William Sait Jessie Anthony	William Tait Jessie Anthony 💍 1879/1158	Bachelor Widow	Ship Joiner	54 50	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	9 months 9 years	House of Mr W. Shepherd	79/1115		25 April 1879	Rev. W. Shepherd
20	26 April 1879	Arthur Anderson Ellen Bouskill	Arthur Anderson Ellen Bouskill 💍 1879/1151	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	25 20	Napier Napier	4 years 2 years	House of Anthony Robertson	79/1109		26 April 1879	Rev. D. Sidey
21	9 May 1879	Joseph Cashwell Elizabeth Mary Ryan	Joseph Cantwell Elizabeth Mary Ryan 💍 1879/1192	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 16	Napier Napier	3 days 2 years	St Johns Church	79/1127	Mary Andrew, Mother	9 May 1879	Rev. De Berdt Hovell
22	10 May 1879	Charles Johnsbody Annie Miller	Charles John Hardy Annie Miller 💍 1879/1152 Alexander Todd Annie Miller 💍 1879/3161	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 26	Napier Napier	6 months 9 months	House of Rev. D. Sidey	79/1110		10 May 1879	Rev. D. Sidey
23	15 May 1879	Frederick Martin Janet McGregor Alexander	Frederick Martin Janet McGregor Hepburn 💍 1879/1171	Bachelor Spinster	Platelayer	22 26	Napier Napier	2 1/2 years 6 months	House of Mr Hepburn	79/1121	Joint Certificate	15 May 1879	Rev. W. C. Wilkinson, United
24	15 May 1879	Richard Bailey Mary Elizabeth Hatfull	Richard Bailey Mary Elizabeth Hartfield 💍 1879/1189	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	34 37	Napier Napier	4 years 2 months	St Johns Church	79/1124		15 May 1879	Rev. De Berdt Hovell

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).