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 692

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
19	25 February 1884	James Hilgrew Martha Stevens	James Milgrew Martha Stevens 💍 1884/2462	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	30 24	Napier Napier	6 years 15 months	St Marys Roman Catholic Chapel Napier	84/1845	1884	Rev P Grogan Roman Catholic
20	25 February 1884	John ONeil Ann Murphy	John ONeill Ann Murphy 💍 1884/370 John Sweeny Ellen Murphy 💍 1885/528	Bachelor Widow	Laborer	40 40	Napier Napier	7 weeks 10 years	Registrars office	84/1341	1884	Registrar
21	26 February 1884	Henry James Glasebrook Emma Jane Merritt	Henry James Glaybrook Emma Jane Merritt 💍 1884/313	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 24	Clive Clive	10 years 16 years	Clive Church	84/360	1884	Rev H Maclean English Church
22	5 March 1884	James Mayle Ellen Jane Watt	James Moyle Ellen Jane Watt 💍 1884/11	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 17	Napier Clive	4 days 17 years	St Pauls Church	84/841	1884	Rev I G Paterson Presbyterian
23	5 March 1884	John Bodley Isabella Carswell	John Bodley Isobella Carswell 💍 1884/371	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	26 22	Petane Petane	3 years 4 years	House of Mr Carewell	84/372	1884	Rev D Sedey Presbyterian
24	8 March 1884	George John Perfect Jane McLaren	George John Perfect Jane McLaren 💍 1884/2271	Widower Spinster	Brickmaker	45 31	Napier Napier	14 days 6 months	St Augustines Church	84/1288	1884	Rev I Parkinson English Church
25	14 March 1884	William Nassau Trinton Matilda Irwin	William Nassau Grinlinton Matilda Irwin 💍 1884/359	Widower Widow	Tailor	53 35	Napier Napier	10 years 2 years	House of Mr Mogell	84/365	1884	Rev I I Lewis Wesleyan
26	14 March 1884	James Russell Bridget O Sullivan	James Russell Bridget O'Sullivan 💍 1884/2463	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	28 27	Napier Napier	14 days 14 days	St Marys Chapel	84/1846	1884	Rev A Cassidy Roman Catholic

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).