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 785

District of Ashburton Quarter ending 30 June 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
192	11 April 1881	William Patching Sophia Matilda Stephens	William Patching Sophia Matilda Stephens 💍 1881/3268	Bachelor Spinster	Tentmaker	24 years 22 years	Ashburton Ashburton	3 years 18 months	St Stephen's Church	81/13303		11 April 1881	Revd A. H. Watson Hands, Church of England
193	11 April 1881	Timothy Mechan Mary Brown	Timothy Meehan Mary Brown 💍 1881/1174	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic Servant	26 years 21 years	Ashburton Ashburton	4 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Church	81/1144		11 April 1881	Revd E. Coffey, Roman Catholic
194	24 April 1881	James Quinn Mary Frances Burke Fitzgerald	James Quinn Mary Frances Bushe Fitzgerald 💍 1881/1175	Bachelor Spinster	Watchmaker	35 years	Ashburton Ashburton	5 years 6 months	Roman Catholic Church	81/1145		24 April 1881	Revd E. Coffey, Roman Catholic
195	29 April 1881	William John Thomas Martha Ann Smith	William John Thomas Martha Ann Smith 💍 1881/1176	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer Domestic Servant	22 years 19 years	Purau Head of the Bay, Lyttelton	5 years 19 years	Private Dwelling House of Matthew Smith	81/1146	Matthew Smith, Father, Ashburton	29 April 1881	Revd A. M. Beattie, Presbyterian
196	10 May 1881	William Nicholls Mary Jane Jackson Hughes	William Nicholls Mary Jane Jackson Hughes 💍 1881/1181	Bachelor Spinster	Compositor Domestic Servant	24 years 18 years	Ashburton Ashburton	4 days 2 weeks	Wesleyan Church	81/1150	Richard Jackson Hughes, Father	10 May 1881	Revd William Keall, Wesleyan
197	12 May 1881	William Nicholas Ann Jane Edson	William Nicholas Ann Mary Edson 💍 1881/2851	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 years 22 years	Hinds Mount Somers	11 years 10 years	St Stephen's Church, Ashburton	81/2903		12 May 1881	Revd A. M. Hands, Church of England
198	19 May 1881	Thomas Hopper Ann Jane Gibson	Thomas Happer Ann Jane Gibson 💍 1881/1111	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer Domestic Servant	30 years 17 years	South Rakaia Hororata	5 years 6 years	Private Dwelling House of James Gibson, Hororata	81/1050	James Gibson, Father, Hororata	19 May 1881	Revd B. J. Westbrook, Presbyterian
199	25 May 1881	Lewis Bick Nora Reardon	Lewis Gick Nora Reardon 💍 1881/1179	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Domestic Servant	28 years 23 years	Ashburton Ashburton	1 year 5 months 3 months	Wesleyan Church, Ashburton	81/1149		25 May 1881	Revd William Keall, Wesleyan

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).