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 361

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
54	1 October 1881	Septimus Hawkey Emma Elizabeth Jones	Septimus Mawley Emma Elizabeth Jones 💍 1881/2506	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer -	35 23	Wanganui Wanganui	3 days 6 weeks	Church of England	81/2666	1 October 1881	Rev. T. L. Tudor
55	1 October 1881	John William Mouldei Sarah Ann Simlett	John William Moulder Sarah Ann Simbett 💍 1881/2473	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer -	24 23	Wanganui Wanganui	6 months 6 months	Residence of Mr. [illegible]	81/2533	1 October 1881	Rev. W. J. Williams
56	15 October 1881	Timothy O'heary Sarah Blackburn	Timothy O'Leary Sarah Blackburn 💍 1881/2478	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer -	28 21	Wanganui Wanganui	5 years 6 years	Roman Catholic	81/2559	15 October 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk
57	24 October 1881	William Patrick Campbell Anna Edith Powell	William Patrick Campbell Annie Edith Powell 💍 1881/2509	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager -	40 19	Otokongaro Wanganui	3 years 19 years	Residence of Mr. E. Powell		24 October 1881	Rev. James Treadwell
58	26 October 1881	Frank August Folman Mary Campbell	Frank August Colman Mary Campbell 💍 1881/2479	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer -	23 24	Wanganui Wanganui	6 months 2 years	Roman Catholic	81/2560	26 October 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk
59	31 October 1881	William Austin Lelia Barritt		Bachelor Spinster	Baker -	21 21	Wanganui Wanganui	16 months 16 months	Office of the Registrar	81/2572	2 November 1881	G. W. Woon
60	11 November 1881	Carl Christianson Mary Matthews	Carl Charistenson Mary Matthews 💍 1881/2487	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Domestic Servant	27 24	Waitotara Wanganui	18 months 3 months	Residence of the Rev. C. H. Kirk	81/2561	11 November 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk
61	21 November 1881	Albert Lyford Margaret Kells		Bachelor Spinster	Jockey -	21 19	Wanganui Wanganui	2 years 18 years	Office of the Registrar		21 November 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk
62	21 November 1881	Marcus Alban Haill Isabella McKenzie	Marcus Alban Neill Isabella McKenzie 💍 1881/2498	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper -	29 24	Wanganui Wanganui	20 years 12 months	Roman Catholic	81/2562	21 November 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk
63	21 November 1881	Alfred John Corlett Margaret Farrell	Alfred John Cribb Margaret Farrell 💍 1881/2504	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor -	29 18	Wanganui Wanganui	7.5 years 18 years	Roman Catholic		21 November 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk
64	24 November 1881	John Barnes Hannah Old	John Barnes Hannah Old 💍 1881/2490	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter -	22 21	Wanganui Turakina	3 years 10 years	Presbytery, Wanganui		24 November 1881	G. W. Woon
65	24 November 1881	John Connell Honora Meehan	John Connell Honora Meehan 💍 1881/2505	Bachelor Spinster	Saddler -	25 25	Wanganui Wanganui	23 years 25 years	Roman Catholic	81/2564	24 November 1881	Rev. C. H. Kirk

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).