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 417

District of Wellington 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
141	8 August 1881	George Rutland Harriet Rutland	George Rutland Harriet Rutland 💍 1881/1768	Widower Spinster	Farmer	43 43	Wellington	7 days 3 days	Registrars Office	81/1493		8 August 1881	J. G. Holdsworth, Reg
142	12 August 1881	Edward Francis Weight Mary Jane Williamson	Edward Francis Weight Mary Jane McManaway 💍 1881/1790	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	21 27		years	St Marys Cathedral	81/1816		12 August 1881	Rev. John McNamara, R.C.
143		John William Lambourne Fanny Alma Stafford	John William Lairnbeer Fanny Alma Stafford 💍 1881/1769	Widower Spinster	Rabbit Inspector	45 24			Registrars Office	81/1494			J. G. Holdsworth, Reg
144	13 August 1881	Thomas Henderson Maria Theresa Rash	Thomas Henderson Maria Theresa Rash 💍 1881/1770	Bachelor Spinster	Iron Moulder	24 22			Registrars Office	81/1495		13 August 1881	J. G. Holdsworth, Reg
145		Michael Murphy Annie McGurk	Michael Murphy Annie McGirk 💍 1881/1804	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	32 25	Hutt Lower Hutt	4 years 6 months	Roman Catholic Church	81/1806			Rev. John Lampila, R.C.
146	15 August 1881	James Collett Elizabeth Fox	James Collett Elizabeth Fox 💍 1881/1799	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	32 21	Petone Te Aro	years years	Christ Church, Te Aro	81/1824		15 August 1881	Rev. Thomas Fancourt, Cong.
147		James Snell Catherine Sophia Blatchford	James Snell Catherine Sophia Blatchford 💍 1881/1771	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 17	Wellington Hutt	4 days 2 years	Registrars Office	81/1496	Walter Blatchford, Father		J. G. Holdsworth, Reg
148		James Richard Woon Agnes McDonald	James Richard Woon Agnes McDonald 💍 1881/1793	Bachelor Spinster	Postal Clerk	23 22	Wellington	2 years 2 years	St Peters Church	81/1819			Ven. Archdeacon Stock, Cong.
149	23 August 1881	Harry Butler Emily Ensom	Harry Butler Emily Ensom 💍 1881/1794	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 24	Upper Hutt Petone	4 years 2 months	St Peters Church	81/1820		23 August 1881	Ven. Archdeacon Stock, Cong.
150	24 August 1881	Albert Judd Julia O'Connor	Albert Judd Julia O'Connor 💍 1881/1805	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 20	Wainuiomata Lower Hutt	years 1 month	Roman Catholic Church	81/1807	Norah O'Connor, Mother		Rev. John Lampila, R.C.
151	25 August 1881	William Pay Alice Jane Langston	William Pay Alice Jane Langston 💍 1881/1795	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	26 20	Ohariu Wellington	years years	St Peters Church	81/1821	Maria Capling, Mother	25 August 1881	Ven. Archdeacon Stock, Cong.
152	27 August 1881	John Gascoigne Ann Elizabeth Osborne	John Gascoine Ann Elizabeth Osgood 💍 1881/1779	Widower Widow	Builder	55 33			House of J. Valentine, Oriental Bay	81/1780		27 August 1881	Rev. John Muir, 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).