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 412

District of Wellington 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
92	17 May	William Homes Jessee Cooper	William Thomas Jessie Cooper 💍 1881/2940	Widower Widow	Joiner	47 39	Wellington	years	House of Bride	81/1430		17 May	Revd C. J. Ogg
93		Robert Eggar Helen Evain Gray	Robert Eggers Watson Helen Evair Gray 💍 1881/936	Bachelor Spinster	Coachsmith	24 24		6 years 3 years	House	81/895			Rev. John Moir
94	18	Encas Daly Margaret O'Sullivan	Eneas Daly Margaret OSullivan 💍 1881/943	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	27 22		1 year 1	Cathedral	81/901		18	Rev. J. de Namare
95	19	Walter Bishop Emily Amelia Burlison	Walter Bishop Emily Amelia Burletson 💍 1881/1407	Widower Spinster	Publican	36 21		years	Registrars Office	81/1380		19	J. G. Holdsworth
96		William James Plant Mary Murphy	William James Plant Mary Murphy 💍 1881/1449	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	25 22		1 year	St Mary of the Angels	81/1413			Rev. P. Kerrigan
97	20	John Thomas Follow Elizabeth Mary Ann Tonghurst	John Thomas Frollas Elizabeth Maryanne Longhurst 💍 1881/1442	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 20		5 years 4	St Mary of the Angels	81/1416	No relation in Colony	3 June	Rev. P. Kerrigan
98	23	George Green Elizabeth Bailey	George Green Elizabeth Bailey 💍 1881/937	Bachelor Widow	Carpenter	37 37		10 9	House of Rev. John Moir	81/896		23 May	Rev. John Moir
99		Daniel Davis Beatrice English	Daniel Davis Beatrice English 💍 1881/1441	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	27 22		8 5	St Mary of the Angels	81/1415			Rev. P. Kerrigan
100	4	William Wilson Madge Dever	William Wilson Madge Diver 💍 1881/1450 William Wilson Margaret Short 💍 1881/2515	Bachelor Spinster	Warehouseman	24 20		4 5	St Mary of the Angels	81/1414	Thomas Davis, Father		Rev. P. Kerrigan
101	25	Hollingworth Harbottle Jane Balcombe	Hollingworth Harbottle Jane Malcombe 💍 1881/2935	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier	27 26		3 3	House of Mr Bailey	81/1419		25	Rev. W. H. West
102		Henry Weaver Elizabeth Hastings	Henry Weaver Elizabeth Hastings 💍 1881/1530	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	24 18		years	House of Rev. Jas. Paterson	81/1528	Elizabeth Dark, Mother		Rev. James Paterson
103	26	Leonard Rose Jaggar Fanny Ada Kemble	Leonard Rose Jaggar Fanny Ada Kemble 💍 1881/1415	Bachelor Spinster		22 21			Registrars Office	81/1381		26	J. G. Holdsworth

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).