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 404

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 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
37	2 March 1880	William Francis Scont Emily Beyer	William Francis Scott Emily Beyer 💍 1881/1392	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	27 18	Wellington	4 years 2 years	Registrars Office	81/366	Sophia Beyer, mother	2 March 1880	J. G. Holasworth, Revt
38	4	Apostles Lambert Annie Aplin	Apostles Lambert Annie Aplin 💍 1881/1395	Bachelor Spinster	Fisherman	29 19		5 years 1 year	Registrars Office	81/369	No relation in Colony	18	J. G. Holasworth, Rystr
39		Eaward Jones Jane Ann Gardner	Edward Jones June Ann Gardiner 💍 1881/1393	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	24 22		2 years 18 months	Registrars Office	81/367			J. G. Holasworth
40		William Henry Gedlow Hannah Styles	William Henry Gidlow Hannah Styles 💍 1881/2974	Bachelor Spinster	Letter Carrier	36 30		4 years 3 years	St Peters Church	81/231			Revd Arthur Stock
41		Charles Shoman Tatum Alice Elizabeth Nevin	Charles Thomas Tatum Alice Elizabeth Nevin 💍 1881/311	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	23 27		18 months years	St Charles Church	81/214			Revd Richard Coffey
42	7	David Smith Philadelphia Proves	David Smith Philadelphia Prouse 💍 1881/318	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	39 33		10 years 3 months	Residence of Bridegroom	81/223		7	Revd N. B. Redstone
43		James Lochead Louisa Johnson	James Lochead Louisa Johnson 💍 1881/324	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraph Constructor	31 20		5 days years	House of Chris Johnson, Herbert Street	81/207	Isabella Johnson, mother		Revd James Paterson
44	8	Alexander Munro Mary Ann O'Leary	Alexander Munro Mary Ann O'Leary 💍 1881/1394	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer	27 25		years 6 years	Registrars Office	81/368		8	J. G. Holdsworth, Revt
45	17	Alpud Greenwood Mary Ann Pouncely	Alfred Greenwood Mary Ann Pounceby 💍 1881/325	Widower Spinster	Manager, Oyster Saloon	28 32		1 year 3 years	Hourd	81/208		17	Revd J. Paterson
46		James Malcolm Hay Elizabeth Maria Chappell	James Malcolm May Elizabeth Maria Chappell 💍 1881/1550	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	31 21		5 years years	Mr Chappells	81/524			Revd J. Paterson
47		John Eanma Callaghan Charlotte Alicia Fegan	John Edward Callaghan Charlotte Alicia Fegan 💍 1881/2978	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	21 18		14 years years	St Pauls Church	81/236	Amelia Fegan, mother		Revd B. W. Harvey
48	21	Charles Hutton Colnett Josephine Clara Daniel	Charles Hutton Colnett Josephine Clara Daniel 💍 1881/2975	Bachelor Spinster	Mariner	28 21		years years	St Peters Church	81/232		21	Venble 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).