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 661

District of Rangiora Quarter ending 31st of December 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
348	October 13	William Brock Alice Barclay	William Brock Alice Barclay 💍 1881/2710	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher Dressmaker	21 yrs 19 yrs	Waikuku Sefton	15 months 3 years	Presbyterian Church Sefton	81/2298	James Barclay Father	October 13th 1881	The Revd Robt Tout Presbyterian
349	October 24	James Baird Chisholm Mary Jane Farrilly	James Baird Chisholm Mary Jane Farrelly 💍 1881/2709	Bachelor Spinster	Teacher not any	40 yrs 19 yrs	Loburn Loburn	3 Months 4 years	Dudley House of Jas. Farrilly Loburn	81/2299	Jas. Farrilly Father	October 24th	The Revd Robert Tout Presbyterian
350	Nov 4th	James Pesterwick Martha Judson	James Clutterbuck Martha Judson 💍 1881/2707	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith not any	26 yrs 20 yrs	Wood End Wood End	3 days 20 yrs	Wesleyan Church Wood End	81/2495	Father	4th	Rev. [illegible] Jowett Wesleyan
351	Nov 7th	George Hy Thompson Mary Hodgson	George Henry Thompson Mary Hodgson 💍 1881/2711	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Teacher	31 yrs 29 yrs	Loburn Loburn	2 yrs 14 yrs	Dudley House North Hodgson	81/2499		Nov 7th	Revd Ezra Robt Otway Episcopalian
352	Nov 7th	John Jas. Heap Elizabeth Founts	John James Heap Elizabeth Tombs 💍 1881/2725	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk Dressmaker	21 yrs 21 yrs	Rangiora Sefton	4 days 4 yrs	Church of England Sefton	81/2489		Nov 7th	Revd Henry G. Gould Episcopalian
353	Nov 21	Frederick Robt Barton Louisa Norton	Frederick Robert Bartrum Louisa Morton 💍 1881/2708 Frederick George Maitland Louisa McIntosh 💍 1881/3302	Bachelor Spinster	Carrier not any	23 yrs 22 yrs	Rangiora Wood End	6 yrs 3 Weeks	Dwelling House Chas Jas Norton	81/2496		Nov 21	Revd Saml Jas. Garlick Wesleyan Methodist
354	Dec 16	William Hollowell Elizabeth Horn	William Howell Elizabeth Horne 💍 1881/2705 William Popplewell Elizabeth Henry 💍 1881/3085 William Close Elizabeth Harrison 💍 1881/8 William Lockwood Elizabeth Cairns 💍 1881/560 William Allan Elizabeth Turner 💍 1881/915 William Wales Elizabeth Wearne 💍 1881/2026 William Bycroft Elizabeth Johns 💍 1881/2446 William Burlace Pote Elizabeth Toy 💍 1881/398 William Peaker Hall Elizabeth Gurney 💍 1881/1951 William Leo Elizabeth Deane 💍 1881/210 William Hemsley Elizabeth Crawford 💍 1881/594 William Blackmore Baker Elizabeth Monk 💍 1881/2815 William Watson Elizabeth Manson 💍 1882/648 William Edward Taylor Elizabeth Hall 💍 1881/2519	Bachelor Widow	Butcher not any	29 yrs 27 yrs	Rangiora Rangiora	7 days 7 days	Wesleyan Church	81/2493		Dec 16th	Revd Jas. A. Taylor Wesleyan Methodist
355	Dec 24	William Dobbs Ellen Rooke	William Dobbs Ellen O'Rourke 💍 1882/621	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer not any	21 yrs 20 yrs	Fernside Fernside	19 yrs 19 yrs	Office of Registrar
356	Dec 27	Samuel Boyce Ellen Jane Cranford	Samuel Boyce Eliza Jane Crawford 💍 1882/613	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer not any	33 yrs 28 yrs	Sefton Rangiora	16 yrs 3 days	Presbyterian Church Rangiora	82/467		Dec 31	Revd Robt Tout Presbyterian
357	Dec 29	John Wilkinson Foster Annie Boyd Williams	John Wilkinson Foster Annie Boyd Williams 💍 1882/614	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer not any	27 yrs 20 yrs	Rangiora Rangiora	25 yrs 17 yrs	Church of England	82/468	Annie Williams Mother	Dec 29	the Revd R. W. Dudley Episcopalian

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).