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 418

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30th day of September 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
153	2 Sept 1881	Abraham Donglaw Jane Hooper	Abraham Douglass Jane Hooper 💍 1881/1773	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	21 19	Lower Hutt Taita	5 years years	Registrars Office	81/1497	Susan Davis Mother	2 Sept 1881	J. G. Holdsworth Reg
154	7 Sept 1881	Augustus John Ashlen Flora Butler	Augustus John Ashton Flora Butler 💍 1881/1796	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	27 24	Upper Hutt		St Peters Church	81/1822		7 Sept 1881	Ven Archdeacon Stock Reg
155	8 Sept 1881	Abram John Harris Maggie Mary O'Breen	Abram John Harris Maggie Mary O'Brien 💍 1881/1776	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 20	Taita		Registrars Office	81/1800	No relation in Colony to give consent	9 Sept 1881	J. G. Holdsworth Reg
156	9 Sept 1881	Alfred de Norville Annie Smith	Alfred Henry O'Keeffe Jane Smith 💍 1881/3276	Widower Spinster	Clerk	36 21	Wellington		House of W. Kirk	81/1812		9 Sept 1881	Revd William Kirk Reg
157	12 Sept 1881	Thomas Joseph Norris Elizabeth Wooster	Thomas Joseph Norris Elizabeth Wooster 💍 1881/1774	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	23 21			Registrars Office	81/1498		12 Sept 1881	J. G. Holdsworth Reg
158	Sept 1881	Christian Peter Anderson Alice Standen	Christian Peter Anderson Alice Standen 💍 1881/1806	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	30 19	Karori	1 year years	House of Mrs Standen	81/1808	Frances Standen Mother	Sept 1881	Revd A. B. Masten Ch of Eng
159	Sept 1881	Donald McLean Mary Ann Dulch	Donald McLean Mary Ann Dutch 💍 1881/2561	Bachelor Widow	Builder	31 27	Wellington	years 4 years	House of Revd J. Paterson	81/964		Sept 1881	Revd James Paterson Pres
160	13 Sept 1881	James Frederick Parker Annie Liana Gayford	James Frederick Parker Annie Maria Crawford 💍 1881/1786	Bachelor Spinster	Shoemaker	20 20		years 2 years	Registrars Office	81/1803	Mary Gayford Mother	27 Sept 1881	J. G. Holdsworth Reg
161	14 Sept 1881	David William Lyster Louisa Caroline Hellen	David William Lyster Louisa Caroline Hellen 💍 1881/1775	Widower Widow	Constable	49 37	Porirua Pahautanui	years years	Registrars Office	81/1499	No relation	14 Sept 1881	J. G. Holdsworth Reg
162	16 Sept 1881	William Henry Bennett Phoebe Emily Bradford	William Henry Bennett Phebe Emily Bradford 💍 1881/1787	Bachelor Spinster	Joiner	23 21	Wellington		House of Mr Bradford	81/1813		16 Sept 1881	Revd William Kirk Reg
163	Sept 1881	Edmund James Peters Elizabeth Carruthers	Edmund Lund Peters Elizabeth Carruthers 💍 1881/1791	Bachelor Spinster	Mail Contractor	25 19		1 Week 1 Week	St Mary's Cathedral	81/1814	Thomas Johnson Father	Sept 1881	Right Revd Bishop Redwood RC
164	Sept 1881	Charles Russell Charlotte Hannah Clement	Charles Russell Charlotte Hannah Clement 💍 1881/2553	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 21	Hutt	years years	House of Mr Clement	81/2613		Sept 1881	Revd William Cannell Reg

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).