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 659

District of Rangiora 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
340	8 July 1881	William Gencore Annie Davies	William Geeson Annie Davies 💍 1881/1912	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith not-any	40 26	Rangiora Rangiora	3 days 3 days	Free Methodist	81/1949		July 8th	Rev. H. Macfarlane
341	15 July 1881	John Ferguson Helen O'Grady	John Fergusson Helen O'Grady 💍 1881/1914	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Domestic Servant	25 23	Ashley Rangiora Ashley Rangiora	3 years 1 year	Church Rangiora	81/1951		July 18th	Rev. I. N. Branfield
342	22 July 1881	William Duffill M.D. Annie Jane Millwain	William Duffell Junior Annie Jane McIlwaine 💍 1881/1911	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	25 20	Sefton Rangiora Rangiora	10 months 10 months	Church of England Ashley	81/1948		August 8th	Rev. E. R. Otway
343	29 August 1881	James Bennett Elizabeth Georgie	James Bennett Elizabeth Gorrie 💍 1881/1932	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer not-any	43 33	Ben{?}al Hill Rangiora Ben{?}al Hill Rangiora	3 days 4 months	Ben{?}al Hill House	81/1945		August 29th	Rev. Robt. Tout
344	3 September 1881	Charles Morris Weaver Amelia Frances Lawrence	Charles Morris Weavers Amelia Frances Lawrence 💍 1881/1913	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor not-any	22 19	Rangiora Rangiora	10 months 4 days	Registrar's Office Rangiora	81/1950	Gabriel Lawrence, father	September 3rd	A. H. Cunningham
345	5 September 1881	David Watt Margaret Brock	David Watt Margaret Brock 💍 1881/1933	Bachelor Spinster	Surveyor Teacher	26 19	Rangiora Ashley Rangiora	3 days 3 days	House of John Brock	81/1946	John Brock, father	September 5th	Rev. John Elmslie
346	23 September 1881	John Bowman Atkinson Lillias Drysdale	John Bowman Atkinson Lillias Drysdale 💍 1881/2706	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	32 26	Wood End Rangiora Wood End	5 years 1 year	Wesleyan Church	81/2494		September 23rd	Rev. Saml. S. Garlick
347	28 September 1881	Frederick Gulliver Catherine Baker	Frederick Gulliver Catherine Baker 💍 1881/2862	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker not-any	30 21	Rangiora Rangiora	8 years 15 years	House of Mr. Baker	81/2891		September 28th	Rev. John Elmslie

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).