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 454

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
25	23 May 1879	Frederick Pirani Martha Berry	Frederick Pirani Martha Berry 💍 1879/1161	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	20 18	Napier Napier	3 days 18 years	Residence of Mr Berry	79/1118	Samuel Berry, Father	23 May 1879	Rev D Sidey
26	23 May 1879	William James Garry Helen Smith	William James Gurry Helen Smith 💍 1879/1159 William MacKersey Ellen Smith 💍 1879/3059 William Crush Daldy Amey Smith 💍 1880/3013	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith	22 22	Napier Napier	22 years 9 years	Residence of Mr Smith	79/1116		23 May 1879	Rev D Sidey
27	30 May 1879	William Hey Stanwell Sarah Fisher	William Ley Hanwell Sarah Fisher 💍 1879/1160	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	36 29	Napier Napier	1 year 1 year	House of Rev D Sidey	79/1114		30 May 1879	Rev D Sidey
28	2 June 1879	Henry Purford Alice Ann Sherwood	Henry Pulford Alice Ann Sherwood 💍 1879/1194	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 19	Clive Havelock	2 1/2 years 4 years	Havelock Church	79/1129	Abner Sherwood, Father	2 June 1879	Rev H A Skill
29	3 June 1879	Edwin Hawkthorn Sarah Clifton	Edwin Hartshorn Sarah Elizabeth Clifton 💍 1879/1172	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 21	Clive Clive	3 days 2 weeks	Clive Church	79/1130		3 June 1879	Rev H A Skill
30	4 June 1879	William Anderson Ellen Allanach formerly Taylor	William Anderson Ellen Allanack 💍 1879/1163	Bachelor Widow	Woolsorter	49 46	Clive Napier	4 years 10 years	House of Mr Allanach	79/1120		4 June 1879	Rev D Sidey
31	4 June 1879	James Johnstone Margaret Ashley	James Johnstone Margaret Ashley 💍 1879/1162	Widower Widow	Hotel Keeper	42 26	Napier Napier	14 years 15 years	Home of Rev D Sidey, Napier	79/1119		4 June 1879	Rev D Sidey
32	10 June 1879	John Murphy Hannah Fallon	John Murphy Sarah Earl 💍 1880/1178	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Driver	22 22	Napier Napier	15 years 9 months	St Mary's Chapel, Napier	79/1128		10 June 1879	Rev F Grogan
33	11 June 1879	Thomas Reward Mary Johnstone	Thomas Seaward Mary Anne Jones 💍 1879/1193 Thomas Morrow Mary Jane Johnston 💍 1879/1293	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 28	Napier Napier	4 years 2 years	St Johns Church, Napier	79/1123	Her Parents, Guardian in Colony	11 June 1879	Rev De Berdt Hovell
34	17 June 1879	William Allason Eliza Smith	William MacKersey Ellen Smith 💍 1879/3059	Widower Spinster	Stationhand	32 20	Mangawhare Meanee	7 years 3 years	St Johns Church, Napier	79/1123		17 June 1879	Rev De Berdt Hovell
35	21 June 1879	John Charles Davis Sarah Ann Kent formerly Wilson	John Charles Davis Sarah Ann Hunt 💍 1879/1182	Bachelor Widow	Blacksmith	25 30	Taradale Taradale	4 years 5 years	St Johns Church, Napier	79/1122		21 June 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).