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 458

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
48	12 August 1879	Arthur Williams Anita Pauline Hood	Arthur Williams Anita Paulina Hoad 💍 1879/1921	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	28 24	Napier Napier	25 years 1 year	St Marys Chaple	79/1990		12 August 1879	Rev F. Forest
49	15 August 1879	William Stall Caraline Cartwright formerly Cary	William Hall Mrs Cartwright 💍 1879/1909 William Rook Fanny Cartwright 💍 1880/3107	Widower Widow	Storekeeper	32 29	Napier Napier	5 years 1 year	House of Mr Grigabay, Hasting St	79/1940		15 August 1879	Rev W. C. Oliver
50	18 August 1879	Alfred King Kate Agnes Down	Alfred King Kate Agnes Downs 💍 1879/3076	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 20	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	10 days 2 years	Registrar's office	79/2610		18 August 1879	Registrar
51	25 August 1879	William Theobald Reymond Clara Constance Like	William Theobald Raymond Clara Constance Take 💍 1879/3074	Bachelor Spinster	Constable	24 22	Hastings Napier	3 weeks 3 years	St Johns Church	79/2608		25 August 1879	Rev De Berdt Hovell
52	28 August 1879	Edward Starkey Jane Thomson	Edward Starkey Jane Thomson 💍 1879/1904	Bachelor Spinster	Machinist	20 21	Napier Napier	4 years 1 year	House of S. Lambbell	79/1935		28 August 1879	Rev D. Sidey
53	30 August 1879	Philip Scullin Lizzie Bransfell formerly Lorton	Philipp Scullin Lizzie Bransfield 💍 1879/1924	Bachelor Widow	Farmer	27 28	Meanee Meanee	4 years 1 year	Mission Station	79/1935		30 August 1879	Rev F. Reigner
54	3 September 1879	Rees Watkins Orissa Edith McAlpine	Rees Watkins Orissa Edith Macalpine 💍 1879/1925	Widower Spinster	Railway Guard	32 19	Napier Napier	5 years 18 months	House of Mr McAlpine	79/1934	George Edward McAlpine, father	3 September 1879	Rev C. Penny
55	4 September 1879	John Kennedy Alice Phoebe Clark	John Kennedy Alice Phoebe Clarke 💍 1879/3075	Bachelor Spinster	Ferryman	28 23	Western Spit Napier	3 months 1 week	St Johns Church	79/2609		4 September 1879	Rev De Berdt Hovell
56	5 September 1879	William Meban Annie Smith	William Meban Annie Smyth 💍 1879/1905	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	25 18	Port Ahuriri Napier	4 years 4 years	House of Mr S. Campbell	79/1936	No Parent or Guardian, that of the Colony	5 September 1879	Rev S. Campbell
57	19 September 1879	Frederick James Ansell Alberta Amelia Canarthen	Fredrick James Ansell Alberta Amelia Canarthan 💍 1879/1910	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	30 21	Napier Napier	1 1/2 years 2 years	House of F. Ansell, Napier	79/1941		19 September 1879	Rev W. C. Oliver
58	26 September 1879	Henry Rohde Lascelles Sarah Davies	Henry Rohde Lascelles Sarah Davies 💍 1879/3062	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	20 20	Clive Meanee	4 years 20 years	House of E. Davies	79/2620	Edward Davies, Father	26 September 1879	Rev W. C. Oliver

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).