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 592

District of Hokitika 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
811	2 April 1879	John Smith Sarah Nicholson	John Smith Sarah Nicholson 💍 1879/1250	Bachelor Spinster	Wesleyan Minister No Occupation	43 years 34 years	Hokitika Hokitika	11 months 7 years	In private residence of Mrs Nicholson Fitzherbert St	79/1210		2 April 1879	Revd J. R. Buttle
812	13 April 1879	Alfred Missen Helen Ida Perry	Alfred Missen Helen Ida Perry 💍 1879/1267	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Barmaid	25 years 19 years	Hokitika Hokitika	2 years 3 years	In the Office of the Registrar Hokitika	79/1205	there is no person resident in the Colony having authority to give consent	13 April 1879	F. Dermott, Regr
813	18 April 1879	John Jerome Breeze Margaret Heenan	John Jerome Breeze Margaret Heenan 💍 1879/1266	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker No Occupation	23 years 17 years	Hokitika Hokitika	2 years 12 years	In the Church of St Mary Hokitika	79/1204	John Heenan the father	18 April 1879	Revd J. A. Martin
814	18 April 1879	Henry Leslie Michel Sarah Dale	Henry Leslie Michel Sarah Dale 💍 1879/2550	Bachelor Spinster	Merchant No Occupation	30 years 19 years	Hokitika Hokitika	12 years 11 years	In the Church of All Saints Hokitika	79/1324	George Dale The Father of Minor	18 April 1879	Revd W. Elton
815	19 April 1879	John P. Leslie Susan S. Miller	John Ptolomey Leslie Susan Stirling Miller 💍 1879/1246	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner No Occupation	38 years 37 years	Hokitika Hokitika	14 years 13 years	In the Office of the Registrar Hokitika	79/1206		20 April 1879	F. Dermott, Regr
816	21 April 1879	Edmund O'Connor Bridget Eastman	Edmond OConnor Bridget Cashman 💍 1879/1265	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Servant	31 years 21 years	Hokitika Hokitika	2 months 20 months	In the Church of St Mary Hokitika	79/1203		21 April 1879	Revd R. A. Martin
817	29 April 1879	William H. Robinson Mary Annie Keating	William H Robinson Mary Anne Keating 💍 1879/2978	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	39 years 27 years	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 5 years	In the private Residence of the Revd R. A. Martin	79/1202		29 April 1879	Revd R. A. Martin
818	14 May 1879	Steuart Fome Ogilvie Maria Frances Freeman	Stuart Fane Ogilvie Maria Frances Freeman 💍 1879/2551	Widower Spinster	Hotelkeeper Servant	43 years 26 years	Ross Road, District of Ross Hokitika	6 years 4 years	In the Church of England, Hokitika	Ross 79/1328		14 May 1879	Revd W. Elton
819	31 May 1879	Henry Harding Mary O'Donnell	Henry Harding Mary ODonnell 💍 1879/1247 Henry Beard Margaret O'Donnell 💍 1879/2164	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner Servant	22 years 17 years	Hokitika Hokitika	3 days 10 years	In the Office of the Registrar, Hokitika	79/1204	Bernard O'Donnell the father of Minor	31 May 1879	F. Dermott, Regr
820	1 June 1879	William Albert Comport Ellen Cutbush	William Albert Comport Ellen Cutbush 💍 1879/1248	Bachelor Spinster	Miner No Occupation	25 years 19 years	Hokitika Hokitika	5 years 10 years	In the Office of the Registrar Hokitika	79/1208	Mary Cutbush the Mother of Minor	1 June 1879	F. Dermott, Regr
821	6 June 1879	Charles Holley Susan Elizabeth Thomas	Charles Holley Susan Elizabeth Thomas 💍 1879/1251	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Nursemaid	39 years 33 years	South Beach Hokitika	8 years 12 months	In the Wesleyan Chapel Hokitika	79/1211		9 June 1879	Revd Mr Smith
822	21 June 1879	John Duncan Annie Wogan	John Duncan Annie Wogan 💍 1879/1252	Bachelor Spinster	Miner Laundress	26 years 20 years	South Spit Hokitika Hokitika	12 years 12 years	In the Wesleyan Chapel Hokitika	79/1212	No person authorised to give consent	21 June 1879	Revd Mr Smith
823	25 June 1879	David Johnston Emily Dale	David Johnstone Emily Dale 💍 1879/1264	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer No Occupation	26 years 21 years	Kanieri Kanieri	9 months 14 years	In the Presbyterian Church Hokitika	79/1207		25 June 1879	Revd Mr Morice

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).