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 489

District of Hawkes Bay 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
1	4 January 1881	John William Orns Emma Schapplie	John William Sims Emma Schopfli 💍 1881/356	Bachelor Spinster	Lithographer	26 25	Napier Napier	2 years 20 months	Wesleyan Parsonage	81/1292		4 January 1881	Rev M. C. Oliver Wesleyan
2	11 January 1881	John Hawdon Margaret Lee Oliver	John Hawdon Davison Margaret Lee Oliver 💍 1881/353	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	39 23	Puketapu Puketapu	3 days 9 years	All Saints Church Taradale	81/1289		11 January 1881	Rev A Spear Williams English Church
3	17 January 1881	Charles Granby Mary Anne Gertrude Oliver	Charles Cranby Mary Annie Gertrude Tannian 💍 1881/357	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	28 21	Port Ahuriri Port Ahuriri	7 years 2 years	Wesleyan Parsonage Napier	81/1293		17 January 1881	Rev M. C. Oliver Wesleyan
4	17 January 1881	Jeremiah Linahan Mary Hickey	Jeremiah Linehan Mary Hickey 💍 1881/359	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 23	Hastings Napier	6 years 2 years	St Marys Chapel Napier	81/1295		17 January 1881	Rev J. Forest Roman Catholic
5	19 January 1881	George Rose Sarah Ann Frost	George Rose Sarah Ann West 💍 1881/371	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	30 21	Napier Napier	5 days 2 years	St Johns Church Napier	81/1283		19 January 1881	Rev De Berdt Hovell English Church
6	20 January 1881	Robert Pritchard Jessie Gordon		Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	32 20	Taradale Taradale	1 week 5 years	House of Mr Gordon Taradale		Henderson Gordon, Father	20 January 1881	Rev D Sidey Presbyterian
7	22 January 1881	William Denison Stairmand Phoebe Alice Roberts	William Dennison Stairmand Phoebe Allison Roberts 💍 1881/374	Bachelor Spinster	Plasterer	22 20	Napier Napier	4 years 3 years	House of Mr Stairmand	81/1286		5 February 1881	Rev R. C. Penney Primitive Methodist
8	28 January 1881	Albert Barker Mary Brown	Robert Johnson Mary Brown 💍 1881/161 George Tickner Mary Brown 💍 1881/1692	Bachelor Spinster	Coachman	21 24	Napier Napier	3 months 9 months	St Johns Church Napier			28 January 1881	Rev De Berdt Hovell English Church
9	29 January 1881	Frank Stanley Kate O'Donnell	Frank Stanley Kate O'Connell 💍 1881/344	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	22 18	Clive Clive	1 year 12 years	House of Patrick O'Donnell Clive	81/1279	Patrick ODonnell of Clive Father	29 January 1881	Rev E. Reignier Roman Catholic
10	12 February 1881	Nelson Henry Stephens Mary Ann Dymond	William Henry Stephens Mary Ann Symons 💍 1881/358	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	23 20	Matapihi Flaxmere	18 months 3 months	Wesleyan Parsonage Napier	81/1294		2 March 1881	Rev M. C. Oliver Wesleyan
11	22 February 1881	John Stanyer Maggie Perry		Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	29 20	Hastings Hastings	2 months 4 months	Mission Station Meanee	81/1280		22 February 1881	Rev E. Reignier Roman Catholic

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).