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 502

District of Napier 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
65		Stephen Freeman Bridget Cogklan	Stephen James Freeman Bridget Coghlan 💍 1881/2636	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor	27 21	Napier Napier	2 years 4 years	St Mary's Chapel	81/2122			Rev F. Forest. Roman Catholic
66	3 November 1881	Matthew Qualley Bridget Killeen	Matthew Qualley Bridget Killeen 💍 1881/2650	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	30 31	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	Mission Station Meanee	81/2412		1881	Rev. F. Reignier Roman Catholic
67	10 November 1881	John Joseph Smith Margaret Cosgrove	John Joseph Smith Margaret Cosgrove 💍 1881/2637	Widower Spinster	Butcher	34 31	Port Ahuriri Napier	14 years 10 years	St Mary's Chapel	81/2423		1881	Rev F. Forest. Roman Catholic
68	19 November 1881	William Delves Catherine O'Donnell	John William Silvester Catherine O'Donnell 💍 1881/2647	Widower Spinster	Shipwright	48 29	Napier Napier	3 years 1 year	St Johns Church	81/2409		1881	Rev De Berdt Hovell English Church Minister
69	3 December 1881	William Evison Mary Crawford	William Evison Mary Crawford 💍 1881/2648	Bachelor Widow	Cattledealer	39 35	Havelock Havelock	2 years 1 year	St Johns Church	81/2410		1881	Rev De Berdt Hovell English Church Minister
70	3 December 1881	Alfred Liebst Mary Ginder	Alfred Liebst Mary Einder 💍 1881/2621	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 19	Hastings Hastings	6 years 1 year	Registrar's Office	81/2486	Daniel Ginder, Father	1881	Registrar
71	14 December 1881	John Thomas Carr Harriett Sutton	John Thomas Carr Harriet Sutton 💍 1881/2630	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	31 21	Napier Clive	3 days 21 years	St Pauls Presbyterian Church	81/2416		1881	Rev D Sidey Presbyterian
72	21 December 1881	William Alexander Day Henriette Laurenson	William Alexander Dye Henrietta Laurenson 💍 1881/2632	Bachelor Spinster	Tea Dealer	32 28	Napier Napier	6 years 6 years	House of Mr Laurenson Beach Rd	81/2418		1881	Rev D Sidey Presbyterian
73	22 December 1881	George William Pushe Sarah Ann Hawker	George William Presling Sarah Ann Hawker 💍 1881/2634	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	22 22	Hastings Clive	7 months 3 years	St Lukes Church Havelock	81/2420		1881
74	22 December 1881	Joseph Gifford Mary Christine Logg	Joseph Gifford Mary Christina Boyle 💍 1881/2631	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	24 24	Napier Napier	10 years 5 years	House of J. J. Johnson	81/2417		1881	Rev D Sidey Presbyterian
75	24 December 1881	George Edward Norman Mary Hannah Goddard	George Edward Norman Mary Hannah Goddard 💍 1881/2649	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	26 20	Napier Napier	7 years 7 years	English Church	81/2411	Louisa Goddard, Mother	1881	Rev De Berdt Hovell English Church

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).