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 686

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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
47	14 July 1884	Jean Benjamin Teycheme Annie Robinson	Jean Benjamin Teycheme Annie Robinson 💍 1884/2752	Bachelor Spinster	Draper	26 21	Napier Napier	2 years 10 years	St Augustine Church	84/2364		14 July 1884	Rev. J. Parkinson, English Church
48	5 August 1884	Alexander Percy Watts Emma Clifton	Alexander Percy Martin Emma Clifton 💍 1884/2659	Bachelor Spinster	Trainer	31 20	Clive Clive	3 days 6 years	Clive Church	84/2225	George Clifton, Father	5 August 1884	Rev. H. A. Maclean, English Church
49	9 August 1884	Patrick Maggan Norah O'Donnell	Patrick Maggan Nora O'Donnell 💍 1884/2663	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 22	O Kawa Napier	3 years 14 days	St Mary Chapel	84/2228		9 August 1884	Rev. R. D. Cassidy, Roman Catholic
50	11 August 1884	Alexander M. Cormick Annie Forry	Alexander McCormick Annie Farrer 💍 1884/705	Bachelor Spinster	Station hand	28 25	Petane Hastings	5 years 5 years	English Church, Hastings	84/3795		11 August 1884	Rev. R. M. St. Hill, English Church
51	14 August 1884	William Springfield Elizabeth Davis	William Springfield Elizabeth Davis 💍 1884/2664	Bachelor Spinster	Cab owner	33 27	Napier Napier	7 years 15 months	Residence of Rev. E. O. Perry	84/2229		14 August 1884	Rev. E. O. Perry, United Methodist
52	18 August 1884	Foster George Gilpin Christina Jane Miller	Foster George Gilpin Christina Jane Miller Lawrence 💍 1884/2753	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	27 22	Napier Napier	6 years 1 month	St Johns Church	84/2365		18 August 1884	Rev. G. De Berdt Hovell, English Church
53	25 August 1884	Robert Samuel Dudley Margaret McPherson	Robert Samuel McAulay Margaret McPherson 💍 1884/2723	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	30 20	Papakura Clive	4 years 20 years	Residence of Henry McPherson	84/2234	Henry McPherson, Father	25 August 1884	Rev. W. Fachal, Presbyterian
54	26 August 1884	George Pilcher Elizabeth Hawkins	George Pilcher Elizabeth Hawkins 💍 1884/2660	Widower Spinster	Farmer	65 30	Clive Clive	7 years 1 year	Clive Church	84/2226		26 August 1884	Rev. R. M. St. Hill, English Church
55	2 September 1884	Samuel Harvey Emily Harvey	Samuel Hares Emily Harvey 💍 1884/3842	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	28 18	Taradale Taradale	7 years 18 years	Taradale Church	84/2231	John Harvey, Father	2 September 1884	Rev. C. H. Luke, 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 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).