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 408

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30th day of 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
68	14 April 1881	Richard Douglas Benga Elizabeth Wright	Richard Douglas Benge Elizabeth Wright 💍 1881/1447 Frank Douglas Elizabeth Wright 💍 1881/2343	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 23	Willington	years	Rev. N. B. Reastone House College Street	81/1411		14 April 1881	Rev. N. B. Reastone Printed
69	14	Samuel Thomas Elyin Mercy Sanford Waterhouse	Samuel Thomas Fitzherbert Eliza Mercy Stanford Waterhouse 💍 1881/955	Bachelor Spinster	Baruster	34 26		4 days years	St Pauls Church	81/914		19	Rev B. W. Harvey
70	20	James Wilson Mary Kitching	James Wilson Mary Kitching 💍 1881/974	Bachelor Spinster	Ab. Force	24 24		years years	St Peters Church	81/909		20	Cuchakacon Stock
71		John Gosling Margaret Burko	John Goslin Margaret Bourke 💍 1881/1448 John Johnson Margaret Carson 💍 1881/1984 John Millier Margaret Howe 💍 1881/3253	Bachelor Spensler	Fuenan	24 24		4 years 18 manly	St Marys the Angels	81/1412			Rev P. Kerrigan
72	21	John Carswell Catherine Flaws	John Carswell Catherine Flaws 💍 1881/1399	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	22 17	Kaniana	5 days 6 years	Registrars Office	81/343	Catherine Flaws mother	21	J. G. Holdsworth
73		Augustus Thomas Hayes Ethel Daisy Leslie	Augustus Thomas Hayes Ethel Daisy Leslie 💍 1881/1426	Bachelor Spinsker	Settler	24 18	-Wellinghn	7 days 3 months	Registrars Office	81/382	No relation in Colony	26 May	J. G. Holdsworth
74	23	James Jackson Wood Lucy Helen Keys	James Jackson Wood Lucy Helen Keys 💍 1881/971	Bachelor Spinker	Farmer	23 21	Wamnimata Wainuimata	years	Wesleyan Chapel Wainuimata	81/906		23 April	Rev. William Caymell
75	25	Walter Charles Letter Hannah Hyde	Walter Charles Miller Hannah Hyde 💍 1881/2937	Bachelor Spinster	Compositer	24 24	Wellington	4 days years	St Marks Church	81/1427		25	Rev Richard Coffey
76		John Maurice Levin Emma Brown	John Mauritz Levin Emma Brown 💍 1881/956 John Ingram Emma Brown 💍 1881/1035	Bachelor Spinster	Painter	27 24		2 years 2	St Pauls Cathedral	81/915			Rev B. W. Harvey
77	26	Henry Smith Eliza bollis		Bachelor Spirister	Labourer	31 24	Wainnumata	3 years years	Wesleyan Church Wainnumata			26	Rev William Cannell
78		Matthew James Symes Mahlda Evans	Matthew James Symes Matilda Evans 💍 1881/959	Widower Widow	Painter	36 33	Wellington	years 12 months	House of Bridegroom Frederick Street	81/918			Rev J. J. Hinton
79	27	Robert Henry Furness Elizabeth Martha Ashbridge	Robert Henry Furness Elizabeth Martha Ashbridge 💍 1881/975	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	23 22		years	St Peters Church	81/910		27	Ven Archdeacon Stock

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).