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 457

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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
37	9 July 1879	Charles Inloch Robertson Julia Perts	Charles McIntosh Robertson Julia Parks 💍 1879/1906	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	42 22	Napier Napier	6 years 3 years	Wesleyan Chapel	79/1937		9 July 1879	Rev W. C. Oliver
38	11 July 1879	Arthur Pickering Clara Louisa Ball	Arthur Pickering Clara Louisa Ball 💍 1879/3042	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	21 22	Napier Napier	3 weeks 3 days	St Johns Church	79/1299		11 July 1879	Registrar E. C. Stuart
39	14 July 1879	Charles Leadbetter Margaret Dennety	Charles Leadbetter Margaret O'Monaghan 💍 1879/1922	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	38 21	Taradale Taradale	2 months 4 years	Mission Station	79/1931		14 July 1879	Rev F. Reignier
40	16 July 1879	James King Ellen Parsons	James King Ellen Parsons 💍 1879/1907	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 22	Petane Petane	2 months 4 months	Wesleyan Parsonage	79/1938		16 July 1879	Rev W. C. Oliver
41	22 July 1879	Charles Leadbetter Margaret O'Monogham	Charles Leadbetter Margaret O'Monaghan 💍 1879/1922	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	38 21	Taradale Taradale	2 months 4 years	Mission Station	79/1931		22 July 1879	Rev F. Reignier
42	23 July 1879	Henry Nicholson Anna Jefferies	Henry Nicholson Anna Jeffcoat 💍 1879/3056	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	26 20	Ressington Napier	1 year 6 months	Presbyterian Church	79/2614	No Parent or Guardian in the Colony	23 July 1879	Rev D. Sidey
43	24 July 1879	John Harris Greenner	John Harris Margaret Grenner Pearce 💍 1879/1908	Widower Widow	Gentleman	64 45	Napier Napier	25 years 1 week	House of Mr Gidney, Beach Rd	79/1939		24 July 1879	Rev W. C. Oliver
44	28 July 1879	Charles Walter Taylor Frances Rees	Charles Walton Taylor Frances Rees 💍 1879/3057	Bachelor Spinster	Seaman	27 25	Napier Napier	4 days 4 days	House of Mr [illegible]	79/2615		28 July 1879	Rev D. Sidey
45	1 August 1879	James Charles Briden Ellen Skelly	James Charles Briden Ellen Skelly 💍 1879/3073	Bachelor Spinster	Cook	40 26	Napier Napier	14 days 4 years	St Johns Church, Napier	79/2604		1 August 1879	Rev de Berdt Hovell
46	1 August 1879	James Johnson Elizabeth Burns	James Johnson Elisabeth Byrnes 💍 1879/1923 Magnus Johnson Elizabeth Shirley 💍 1880/3189	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	21 21	Meanee Meanee	13 years 6 months	Mission Station	79/1932		1 August 1879	Rev F. Reignier
47	5 August 1879	James Cooper Margaretta Loughlin Vaughan	James Cooper Margaretta Loughlin Vaughan 💍 1879/3043	Widower Spinster	Farmer	38 23	Havelock Havelock	14 years 1 1/2 years	St Johns Church, Napier	79/2600		5 August 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).