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 492

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
75	18 October 1883	William Dunbar Eliza Jane Rowe	William Dunbar Eliza Jane Rowe 💍 1883/2744	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	25 18	Napier Napier	10 months 9 years	House of Mr E. Rowe	83/2912	E. Rowe, Father	18 October 1883	Rev E. O. Perry, United Methodist
76	20 October 1883	Garibaldi Isidore Clarke Marian Kate Corbett	Garibaldi Sidne Clarke Marian Kate Corbett 💍 1883/2753	Bachelor Spinster	Jeweller	23 20	Napier Napier	3 years 9 years	St Johns Church	83/2920	James Corbett	25 October 1883	Rev De Berdt Hovell, English Church
77	31 October 1883	Thomas Taylor Jane Elizabeth Ann Priestley	Thomas Taylor Jane Elizabeth Ann Presling 💍 1883/2745	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 20	Napier Taradale	15 years 10 years	All Saints Church	83/2913	Charles Priestley, Father	31 October 1883	Rev C. J. Luke, English Church
78	5 November 1883	Isaac Jacob Jameson Lawrence Clara Harriet Whited	Isaac Jacob Jameson Lawrence Clara Harriett Whitehead 💍 1883/2747	Bachelor Widow	Miller	29 24	Napier Napier	10 years 1 1/2 years	Wesleyan Church	83/2915		5 November 1883	Rev J. J. Lewis, Wesleyan
79	7 November 1883	Edward Sydney Hoell Louisa Sabin	Edward Harvey Noell Louisa Sabin 💍 1883/2746	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	36 21	Napier Napier	6 years 6 months	Wesleyan Church	83/2914		7 November 1883	Rev J. J. Lewis, Wesleyan
80	12 November 1883	Adam Knox Henry Church	Adam Knox Hessie Church 💍 1883/2905	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	28 26	Napier Napier	10 days 3 days	Residence of Rev D. Sidey	83/2931		12 November 1883	Rev D. Sidey, Presbyterian
81	14 November 1883	Peter Scrimgeour Catherine Alderson	Peter Scrimgeour Catherine Alderson 💍 1883/2906	Bachelor Spinster	Groom	31 20	Waipukurau Napier	5 years 4 days	St Pauls Church, Waipukurau	83/2932		14 November 1883	Rev D. Sidey, Presbyterian
82	19 November 1883	William Hall Sarah O'Donnell	William Hall Sarah O'Donnell 💍 1883/2896 William Wells Margaret Jane ODonnell 💍 1883/3424	Widower Widow	Farmer	55 52	Napier Napier	5 days 20 years	St Marys Chapel	83/2924		19 November 1883	Rev J. Forest, Roman Catholic
83	24 November 1883	William Bruce Singleton Martha McKay	William Bruce Kingston Martha McKay 💍 1883/2754	Bachelor Spinster	Station Manager	32 25	Whakomarumaru Napier	2 years 3 months	St Johns Church	83/2921		24 November 1883	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).