Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 867

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 June 1884

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
86	12 April 1884	Victor Johnson Elizabeth Gabriellaby	Victor Johnson Elizabeth Gabriella Mary Toole 💍 1884/929 Andrew Johnson Elizabeth Harvey 💍 1884/2110	Bachelor Spinster	Brewer	31 20	Hawera Hawera	1 week 4 days	Registrars Office	84/1108	John Toole, Father	12 April 1884	H. H. Halliday, Deputy Registrar
87	14 April 1884	John Walters Catherine Agnes Cronan	John Walters Catherine Agnes Cronan 💍 1884/928	Widower Spinster	Commercial Traveller	47 23	Hawera Hawera	3 days 18 months	Roman Catholic Church Hawera	84/1104		14 April 1884	Revd. A. I. Mulvihill
88	26 April 1884	John Martin Parli Hannah Catherine Gredig	John Martin Parli Hanna Catharina Gredig 💍 1884/1004	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	30 26	Normanby Normanby	7 years 8 years	Int. W. Gredig's Residence	84/1112		26 April 1884	Revd. C. C. W. Meyer
89	19 May 1884	George Johnston Mackie Cathias Milne	George Johnston MacKie Bathaie Milne 💍 1884/986	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 23	Manaia Manaia	3 years 18 months	Registrars Office	84/1110		19 May 1884	W. J. Chaney, Registrar
90	20 May 1884	William Minhimick Elizabeth Graham	William Minhinnick Elizabeth Graham 💍 1884/930	Bachelor Spinster	Settler	27 26	Keltonlea Keltonlea	6 years 6 years	Registrars Office	84/1109		20 May 1884	W. J. Chaney, Registrar
91	7 June 1884	John Harre Frances Emily Baker	John Harre Frances Emily Baker 💍 1884/997	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster	28 18	Normanby Normanby	16 months 3 years	Int. W. R. Baker's Residence	84/1111	W. R. Baker, Father	7 June 1884	Revd. James Torry
92	28 June 1884	Edward Hills Fanny Cundy	Edward Wills Fanny Cundy 💍 1884/3178	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	21 29	Otakeho Hawera	2 1/2 months 2 years	Int. W. A. Cundy's Residence	84/2095		28 June 1884	Revd. W. L. Salter

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).