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 367

District of Raugitikei 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
20	5 July 1881	William Alexander Annabella Glasgow	William Alexander Xavier Couper Annabella Glasgow 💍 1881/2200	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep farmer	30 24	Turakina Turakina	1 week 12 years	The house of Mr. John Glasgow Turakina	81/264		5 July 1881	Revd. John Ross Pres
21	5 July 1881	William Frederick Barnard Brown Ellen Maria Hewitt	William Frederick Barnard Brown Ellen Marie Hewett 💍 1881/1732	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	22 19	Upper Rangitikei Marton	12 months 12 months	St. Stephens Church Marton	81/1456	Ellen Ann Hewitt, Mother	5 July 1881	Revd. A. Towgood, C of E
22	13 July 1881	Matthew George Hammond Jane Kirk Dalziel	Matthew George Hammond Jane Kirk Dalziel 💍 1881/1738	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	Bulls Bulls	13 years 1 year	The Criterion Hotel, Bulls	81/1462		13 July 1881	Revd. James Doull, Pres
23	25 July 1881	Henry Robert Parrington May Louisa Corrigan	Henry Robert Parrington May Louisa Corrigan 💍 1881/99	Bachelor Spinster	Barrister & Solicitor	32 21	Marton Marton	3 days 1 year	St. Stephen's Church Marton	81/1457		25 July 1881	Revd. A. Towgood, C of E
24	30 July 1881	James W. Hardie Isabella Sutherland	James McHardie Isabella Sutherland 💍 1881/1733	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	28 22	Marton Marton	2.5 years 4 years	The Wesleyan Church Marton	81/1458		30 July 1881	Revd. Wm. Rowse, Wes
25	1 September 1881	James McGregor Eliza Jeeves	James McGregor Eliza Jeeves 💍 1881/1739	Bachelor Spinster	Jailer	23 21	Marton Wanganui	5 years 1 month	The house of Mr. John McGregor, Marton	81/1463		1 September 1881	Revd. Wm. Stewart, Pres
26	10 September 1881	John James Pitkington Martha Lewis Luxford	John James Pilkington Martha Lewis Luxford 💍 1881/1734	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	28 19	Upper Rangitikei Upper Rangitikei	6 months 1 month	The house of Mrs. Allman, Upper Rangitikei	81/1459	William Nicholas Luxford, Father	10 September 1881	Revd. Wm. Rowse, Wes
27	19 September 1881	Hans Mortensen Mary Cockburn	Hans Mortensen Mary Cockburn 💍 1881/1740	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	35 24	Paraekaretu Porewa	3 years 22 years	The house of Mrs. A. Cockburn, Porewa	81/1464		19 September 1881	Revd. Wm. Stewart, Pres

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).