Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 790

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 31 December 1881

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
219	16 November 1881	Thomas Walter Cotton Elizabeth Griffin	Thomas Walter Cotton Elizabeth Griffin 💍 1881/2853	Bachelor Spinster	Horse-trainer Domestic Servant	24 years 17 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 years 6 years	St. Stephen's Church	81/2905	John Griffin, Father	17 November 1881	Revd. A. M. Hands, Church of England
220	19 November 1881	Francis Graham Mary Ann Edge	Francis Graham Mary Ann Edge 💍 1881/2854	Bachelor Spinster	Stock-rider	22 years 19 years	Longbeach Masterton	2 1/2 years 12 years	Registrar's Office	81/2956	William Edge, Father	19 November 1881	Ward, Registrar
221	19 November 1881	John Walter Jones Mary Eleanor Smith	John Walter Jones Mary Eleanor Smith 💍 1881/2881	Bachelor Spinster	Shunter Dressmaker	27 years 24 years	Ashburton Ashburton	2 years 2 years	Private Dwelling House of Matthew Smith	81/2912		19 November 1881	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
222	21 December 1881	Robert Anderson Louisa Mulford	Robert Anderson Louisa Mulford 💍 1881/2882	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler Domestic Servant	26 years 19 years	Ashburton Ashburton	6 years 5 years	Private Dwelling House of James Mulford	81/2913	James Mulford, Father	22 December 1881	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
223	27 December 1881	John Collison Isabella Steele	John Collisson Isabella Steele 💍 1881/2883	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	35 years 26 years	Longbeach Longbeach	6 years 1 year	The Presbyterian Manse	81/2914		27 December 1881	Revd. A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
224	29 December 1881	John Bonifant Mary McGrath	John Bonifant Mary M Grath 💍 1882/862	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Governess	43 years 39 years	Wakanui Anama	6 months 15 years	Private Dwelling House of W. R. Peter, Esq.	82/595		29 December 1881	Revd. A. N. Hands, Church of England
225	29 December 1881	James Campbell Catherine Rattray	James Campbell Catherine Rattray 💍 1881/2880	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	27 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	5 years 6 years	Wesleyan Chapel	81/2915		29 December 1881	Revd. William Heall, Wesleyan
226	30 December 1881	James Gamble Susan Hawthorne	James Gamble Susan Hawthorne 💍 1882/892	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	21 years 19 years	Ashburton Sydenham	1 month 3 days	Private Dwelling House of Thomas Burnham	82/499		30 December 1881	Revd. C. Dallaston, Baptist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).