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 483

District of Wairau 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
16	3 July 1879	James Crossley Anne Rosina Maria Tilgner	James Crossley Anney Rosina Maria Tilgner 💍 1879/1945	Widower Widow	General Dealer Housekeeper	53 years 30 years	Bleinheim Bleinheim	9 years 9 months	Office of the Registrar, Bleinheim	79/1953		3 July 1879	J. I. W. Cole, Registrar of Marriages Wairau
17	14 July 1879	Frederick Coleman Isabella Squire	Frederick Coleman Isabella Squire 💍 1879/1937	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 years 22 years	Kaituna North Bank Wairau Spring Creek	2 months England 5 years Spring Creek	Church of England	79/1957		14 July 1879	Revd. Archd. F. J. Butt
18	17 July 1879	James Henry Nicholls Elizabeth Alice Watson	James Henry Nicholls Elizabeth Alice Watson 💍 1879/1926	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	22 years 19 years	Bleinheim Bleinheim	4 years about 4 years	The House of Mr. Roderick Salver York Terrace, Bleinheim	79/1950		17 July 1879	Revd. Archd. F. J. Butt
19	25 July 1879	John Murphy Mary McCrystal	John Murphy Mary McCrystal 💍 1879/1916	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 years 19 years	Springland Farm Lower Wairau Springland Farm Lower Wairau	25 years 3 months Bleinheim	Roman Catholic Church	79/1946		25 July 1879	Revd. A. M. J. Sauzeau
20	28 July 1879	Francis Dave Sarah Josephine Newton	Frans Daue Sarah Josephine Newton 💍 1879/1918	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 years 20 years	Bleinheim Bleinheim	2 years 20 years	The House of Mr. Benedict	79/1940	Charlotte Harriet Newton, Mother	28 July 1879	Revd. Wm. Shirriffs
21	9 August 1879	Charles Sutton Sarah Jane Lesley	Charles Sutton Sarah Jane Leslie 💍 1879/1917	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 years 24 years	Waikakaho Valley Kaituna North Bank Wairau	20 years 3 years	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Bleinheim	79/1948		9 August 1879	Revd. Wm. Shirriffs
22	12 August 1879	William Edward Simmonds Esther Chapman	William Edward Simmonds Esther Chapman 💍 1879/1944	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 years 21 years	Bleinheim Bleinheim	16 months 17 months	Church of the Nativity, Bleinheim	79/1952		12 August 1879	Revd. Archd. F. J. Butt
23	27 September 1879	William Hunter Catherine Quirk	William Hunter Catherine Quirk 💍 1879/3347	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	22 years 22 years	Tua Marina Tua Marina	11 years 3 days	The House of Mr. John Hunter, Tua Marina	79/1947		27 September 1879	Revd. A. M. J. Sauzeau

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).