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 499

District of Napier 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
41	1 July 1881	Thomas Hallett Elizabeth Langley	Thomas Hallett Elizabeth Langley Turner 💍 1881/1836	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	33 30	Puketapu Napier	3 years 5 years	St Johns Church	81/1862		1 July 1881	Rev De Berdt Hovell, English Church
42	7 July 1881	Isaac Fernandez Annie Mary Spender	Isaac Fernandez Annie Maney 💍 1881/1859	Bachelor Spinster	Commercial Traveller	25 19	Napier Napier	5 days 2 months	Registrars Office	81/1861		25 July 1881	Registrar
43	15 July 1881	Thomas Armstrong Mayes Emma Gardiner	Thomas Armstrong Hayes Emma Gardiner 💍 1881/1853	Bachelor Spinster	Storekeeper	30 22	Hastings Napier	3 years 3 months	House of M. G. Morley	81/1859		15 July 1881	Rev D Sidey, Presbyterian
44	22 July 1881	Harold Seerey Anna Henricksen	Harold Serup Anna Henricksen 💍 1881/1857	Widower Spinster	Steward	42 30	Norsewood Napier	9 years 2 years	Lutheran Church	81/1859		22 July 1881	Rev G. C. Sass, Lutheran
45	25 July 1881	Henry Painter Mary Ann Kear	Henry Painter Mary Ann Kear 💍 1881/1827	Widower Spinster	Labourer	46 30	Meanee Meanee	1 year 1 year	House of H. Painter	81/1852		25 July 1881	Rev S. Speer, English Church
46	26 July 1881	Ernest Joseph Thorwald Anetta Emilie Alpers	Ernest Joseph Harrington Jutta Emilie Alpers 💍 1881/1858	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	28 20	Napier Napier	2 years 6 years	Lutheran Church	81/1860	Doren Thorwald Alpers, Father	26 July 1881	Rev G. C. Sass, Lutheran
47	9 August 1881	George Vincent Kemsley Ada Barton Coles	George Vincent Kemsley Ada Barton Coles 💍 1881/1837	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	35 20	Napier Napier	6 years 3 days	St Johns Church	81/1863	Edward Parks Coles, Father	9 August 1881	Rev De Berdt Hovell, English Church
48	17 August 1881	John Bird Mary Nelson	John Bird Mary Nelson 💍 1881/1835	Widower Spinster	Sheep Farmer	35 25	Napier Napier	4 days 3 months	Roman Catholic Chapel	81/1853		17 August 1881	Rev F. Forest, Roman Catholic
49	17 August 1881	Henry John Holder Annie Logie	Henry John Holder Annie Lagor 💍 1881/1840	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 19	Napier Napier	5 years 7 years	House of H. J. Holder	81/1866	Malvina Logie, Mother	17 August 1881	Rev R. D. Bunn, Wesleyan
50	5 September 1881	Joseph Hay Elizabeth Edith Roberts	Joseph Hay Elizabeth Edith Roberts 💍 1881/1839	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	21 16	Napier Napier	2 years 7 years	House of Richard Roberts	81/1865	Richard Roberts, Father	5 September 1881	Rev R. D. Bunn, Wesleyan
51	15 September 1881	William Hall Mary Miles	William Hall Mary Miles 💍 1881/1855 William Dalgety Ann Miles 💍 1881/528	Widower Widow	Wheelwright	39 32	Clive Napier	7 years 1 year	Mission Station	81/1857		15 September 1881	Rev F. Regnier

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).