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 492

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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
25	30 April 1881	Robert Gregory Jane Emly King	Robert Gregory Emily Jane King 💍 1881/1005	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 21	Napier Napier	2 months 6 weeks	Temperance Hotel	81/940		30 April 1881	Rev R. D. Bunn, Wesleyan
26	2 May 1881	George Willis Joan Margaret Dinclair	George Willis Joan Margaret Sinclair 💍 1881/979	Bachelor Spinster	Cab Driver	21 20	Napier Napier	2 years 6 years	House of Rev D Sedey	81/938	John James Dinclair, Father	2 May 1881	Rev D Sedey, Presbyterian
27	3 May 1881	Robert Walson Jane Thompson	Robert Martin Helen Thompson 💍 1881/3278 Robert Howden Caroline Jane Thompson 💍 1881/458	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	Napier Napier	3 days 3 years	House of Wm Millium	81/941	John Thompson, Father	3 May 1881	Rev R. D. Bunn, Methodist
28	5 May 1881	Charles Samuel Mogridge Annie Meville Harrison	Charles Samuel Mogridge Annie Neville Thornton 💍 1881/985	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	23 21	Napier Napier	20 years 3 days	House of C Mogridge	81/944		5 May 1881	Rev R. D. Bunn, Wesleyan
29	14 May 1881	Thomas George Gearbrook Harriett Rosa Williams	Thomas George Glazebrook Harriett Rosa Williams 💍 1881/982	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	25 23	Clive Puketapu	6 years 4 years	House of Wm Millium	81/941		14 May 1881	Rev S Spear, English Church
30	14 May 1881	Thomas Walker Hannah Bicknell	Thomas Walter Williams Hannah Bicknell 💍 1881/983	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 24	Puketapu Puketapu	14 years 20 years	House of Mr Bicknell	81/942		14 May 1881	Rev S Spear, English Church
31	19 May 1881	Thomas Rafter Annie Kunan	Thomas Rafter Annie Keenan 💍 1881/999	Bachelor Spinster	Warder	33 28	Napier Napier	13 years 12 years	St Mary's Chapel	81/958		19 May 1881	Rev F. Forest, Roman Catholic
32	23 May 1881	James Smith Andrew Caroline Matilda Pechey	James Smith Andrew Caroline Matilda Pilcher 💍 1881/3060	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Driver	27 19	Clive Clive	3 days 19 years	Church of England	81/3232	George Pechey, Father	23 May 1881	Rev Mr st Hill, English Church
33	28 May 1881	John Thompson Elizabeth Webb	John Nilson Elizabeth Cowan 💍 1881/2256 John Paterson Elizabeth MacKay 💍 1881/1713 John Adams Elizabeth Swale 💍 1881/1160	Bachelor Widow	Labourer	43 34	Hastings Hastings	1 year 12 years	House of J Thompson			28 May 1881	Rev S. Heal, Presbyterian
34	2 June 1881	Edward Millward Catherine Mary Bennett		Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 23	Napier Napier	9 years 4 years	House of E M Bennett	81/945		2 June 1881	Rev R. D. Bunn, Wesleyan
35	5 June 1881	Charles Walter Mackenzie Mary Buckeridge	Charles Walter MacKenzie Mary Buckeridge 💍 1881/997	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	23 19	Napier Napier	22 years 2 years	St Johns Church	81/956	Edmund Stone Buckeridge, Brother and legally appointed Guardian	3 June 1881	Rev de Berdt Hovell, English Church

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).