Intentions to Marry, 1883

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840395, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 16 2025.

Page 493

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1883

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
84	26 November 1883	William Steppord Amelia Evans	William Hefford Amelia Evans 💍 1883/2561	Widower Spinster	Farmer	50 42	Auckland Napier	4 days 2 1/2 years	General Baptist Chapel, Auckland	83/1264		26 November 1883	Rev. Geo. Spurgeon, Baptist
85	26 November 1883	James Torr Robina Fillers		Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	36 46	Petane Petane	1 month 3 years	House of J. A. Torr	83/1292		26 November 1883	Rev. W. Welsh, English Church
86	26 November 1883	William Real Elizabeth Gedney	William Neal Elizabeth Gidney 💍 1883/2743 William Powell Elizabeth Hagley 💍 1883/1384 William Grace Elizabeth Gilpin 💍 1883/444 William Strange Elizabeth Rowe 💍 1884/385 William Barnett Elizabeth Irons 💍 1883/2524 William Hyland Elizabeth Cox 💍 1884/456 William Miller Elizabeth Robb 💍 1883/518 William Peters Elizabeth McIntosh 💍 1883/1401 William McKerras Elizabeth Moffat 💍 1883/2836 William Jarden Elizabeth Jane Uren 💍 1883/941	Bachelor Widow	Seaman	43 35	Port Ahuriri Napier	8 years 3 years	Residence of Rev. E. O. Perry	83/12911		26 November 1883	Rev. E. O. Perry, United Methodist
87	28 November 1883	Henry Davis Amy Ephgrave	Henry Davis Amy Ephgrave 💍 1883/2908	Bachelor Widow	Railway Fireman	24 24	Napier Napier	3 years 6 years	Residence of Rev. D. Sidey	83/12934		28 November 1883	Rev. D. Sidey, Presbyterian
88	13 December 1883	John Scott Catherine Skelly	John Scott Catherine Skelly 💍 1883/2755	Bachelor Spinster	Gentleman	29 29	Napier Napier	1 year 3 years	St. John's Church	83/12922		13 December 1883	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, English Church
89	19 December 1883	William Youngman Catherine Mary Ford	William Youngman Catherine Mary Ford 💍 1883/2902	Widower Spinster	Carpenter	38 26	Napier Napier	3 days 6 months	St. Mary's Chapel	83/12928		19 December 1883	Rev. F. Forest, Roman Catholic
90	19 December 1883	George Lindsay Elizabeth Newton	George Lindsay Elizabeth Newton 💍 1883/2756	Bachelor Widow	Station Manager	37 32	Napier Napier	3 days 4 years	St. John's Church	83/12920		19 December 1883	Rev. De Berdt Hovell, English Church
91	28 December 1883	David Drow Eliza Ann West	David Trow Eliza Jane West 💍 1884/349	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 18	Taradale Taradale	2 years 10 years	All Saints Church	84/343	Robert Turner, Father	28 December 1883	Rev. C. S. Luke, English Church
92	28 December 1883	David Charles Hitchman Lucy Burton	David Charles Hitchman Lucy Burton 💍 1883/2886	Bachelor Spinster	Confectioner	25 21	Napier Napier	1 1/2 years 18 years	House of Mr. Burton	83/12935		28 December 1883	Rev. D. Sidey, Presbyterian

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).