Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 496

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1882

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
12	7 February 1882	John O'Brien Bridget Salty	John Obrien Bridget Talty 💍 1882/444	Bachelor Widow	Baker	29 24	Napier Napier	3 years 6 years	St Mary's Chapel	82/1384		7 February 1882	Rev. J. Forest, Roman Catholic
13	7 February 1882	Edward Menzies Mary Alice Dalin	Edward Menzies Mary Alice Sabin 💍 1882/439	Widower Spinster	Surgeon	62 26	Napier Napier	2 years 19 years	St John's Church	82/1349		10 February 1882	Rev. J. Hart, Presbyterian
14	10 February 1882	Thomas Andrew Margaret Ferguson	Dooir Nassan O'Dwyer Molesworth Margaret Ferguson 💍 1882/1106	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer	27 23	Napier Thames	15 years 10 years	House of Mr Andrew, Napier	82/1343		13 February 1882	Rev. J. Forest, Roman Catholic
15	13 February 1882	Joseph Haley Ellen Walsh	Joseph Haley Ellenor Walsh 💍 1882/445	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	22 21	Napier Napier	3 days 11 days	St Mary's Chapel	82/1385		14 February 1882	Registrar
16	14 February 1882	James Taylor Jane Allan	James Taylor Jane Allan 💍 1882/448 John Baird Rankin Jane Allan 💍 1883/706	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	29 24	Clive Clive	4 months 3 days	Registrar's Office, Napier	82/1384		15 February 1882	Rev. J. Forest, Roman Catholic
17	15 February 1882	John Merrick Frances Harriett Murrow	John Merrick Frances Harriet Murrow 💍 1882/446	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	32 19	Napier Napier	7 years 16 years	St Mary's Chapel	82/1386	William Henry Murrow, Father	22 February 1882	Rev. D. Sidey, Presbyterian
18	22 February 1882	William Underdown Flaviat Mellon	William Underdown Harriet Mellon 💍 1882/449	Widower Widow	Gardener	55 60	Napier Napier	16 years 16 years	House of Mr Underdown	82/1388		7 March 1882	Rev. R.D. Burn, Wesleyan
19	7 March 1882	John Forster Mary Matilda Farge	John Foster Mary Matilda Furze 💍 1882/450	Bachelor Spinster	A Constable	27 19	Napier Napier	3 years 3 years	House of Mr John Forster	82/1389	John Furger, Father	15 March 1882	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, English Church
20	15 March 1882	Samuel Cook Mary Anne Polly Dewar	Samuel Cook Mary Anne Dewar 💍 1882/440	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	36 20	Napier Napier	3 days 4 months	St John's Church	82/1380		17 March 1882	Rev. S. Hill, English Church
21	17 March 1882	Joseph Powdrell Mary Ann Le Coubeur	Joseph Powdrell Mary Ann Le Couteur 💍 1882/1452	Bachelor Spinster	Shop Farmer	42 28	Napier Hastings	3 days 1 year	Taradale Church	82/1169		17 March 1882	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, English Church
22	17 March 1882	Edmond Alfred Church Cooper Jane Catton	Edmond Alfred Church Jane Catton 💍 1882/441	Bachelor Spinster	Cooper	26 22	Napier Napier	2 years 14 years	St John's Church	82/1381		17 March 1882	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, English Church

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).