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 359

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 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
30	11 July 1881	Lloyd Jones Emma Winter	Lloyd Jones Emma Winter 💍 1881/1731	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	30 32	Wanganui Wanganui	28 years 9 years	In the English Church at Matarawa	81/1755		11 July 1881	Rev. W. J. Williams Wesleyan
31	13 July 1881	William John Kitson Anne Day	William John Kitson Anne Day 💍 1881/1745	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	39 33	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 5 months	In the Church of England, Wanganui	81/1744		13 July 1881	Rev T. L. Tudor, Church of England
32	19 July 1881	Lawrence O'Connell Frances Harris	Laurence O'Connell Frances Barry 💍 1881/1727	Bachelor	Hotelkeeper	26 19	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 18 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	81/1767		19 July 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
42	13 August 1881	Henry Lanyon Nicholas Christina Lockhart Reid	Henry Langon Nicholas Christina Lockhart Craighead 💍 1881/1747	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	30 24	Wanganui Wanganui	6 years 3 years	In the English Church, Wanganui	81/1748		13 August 1881	Rev T. L. Tudor, Church of England
43	15 August 1881	Albert Schole Brown Margaret Brown Tattle	Albert Sedcole Brown Margaret Brown Cashro 💍 1881/1735	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	29 22	Wanganui Springvale	15 years 2 years	In the residence of James Cather, Springvale	81/1741		15 August 1881	Rev. James Treadwell, Presbyterian
44	23 August 1881	Matthew Riordan Rose McKay	Mathew Riordan Grace McKay 💍 1881/1730	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	42 23	Wanganui Wanganui	3.5 years 1 year	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	81/1754		23 August 1881	Roman Catholic
45	30 August 1881	William Trumble Mary Lee	William Crump Mary Lee 💍 1881/1743	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 17	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 3 months	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	81/1747		30 August 1881	S. W. Noon, Registrar
46	30 August 1881	Frederick Dyer Eliza Windsor	Frederick Dyer Eliza Windsor 💍 1881/1742	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 33	Wanganui Wanganui	3 months 3 days	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	81/1743		30 August 1881	S. W. Noon, Registrar
73	22 July 1881	Richard Blake Birgit Hardman		Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 32	Wanganui Wanganui	5 years 6 years	In the office of the Registrar of Marriages, Wanganui	81/1742		22 July 1881	Registrar
74	26 July 1881	Charles Reid Maria Baldwin	Charles Laird Maria Baldwin 💍 1881/1726	Bachelor	Farmer	26 19	Wanganui Campbelltown	15 years 5 days	In the Registrar's Hotel	81/1720		26 July 1881	Rev. G. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
75	29 July 1881	James Crompton Hannah Maria Austin	James Crompton Hannah Maria Quinn 💍 1881/1729	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	36 20	Wanganui Wanganui	3 years 6 months	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	81/1737		13 August 1881	Rev. G. H. Kirk
76	1 August 1881	Oscar Symes Ethel Jane Hall	Oscar Symes Ethel Jane Hall 💍 1881/3313	Widower Spinster	Farmer	31 22	Wanganui Wanganui	1 week 3 days	In the Matarawa Church, No 2 Line	81/2565		2 August 1881	Rev. R. J. Thorpe, Church of England
77	2 August 1881	Joseph Robert Turnbull Louisa Braithwaite	Joseph Robert Annabell Theresa Braithwaite 💍 1881/98	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor	22 21	Wanganui Wanganui	5 years 10 years	In the residence of Mr Braithwaite	81/1737		4 August 1881	Rev. W. J. Williams
78	5 August 1881	Joseph Brown Davinia Simpson Braithwaite	Joseph Brown Davida Simpson Braithwaite 💍 1881/1716	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	26 18	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 13 years	In the residence of Mr Braithwaite, Campbell Street, Wanganui	81/1749	Mr Braithwaite, father	5 August 1881	Rev. James Treadwell, Presbyterian
79	6 August 1881	Dan Crowley Hannah Burke	Dan Crowley Hannah Burke 💍 1881/1728	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	34 25	Wanganui Wanganui	6 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	81/1752		6 August 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk, Roman Catholic
80	10 August 1881	William Reid Gibson Elizabeth Johnston	Thomas Henry Henderson Elizabeth Johnston 💍 1881/135	Bachelor	Farmer	31 20	Wanganui Wanganui	16 months 16 months	In the residence of Charles Johnston, Bell Street, Wanganui	81/1740		10 August 1881	Rev. James Treadwell, Presbyterian

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).