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 689

District of Napier 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
36	9 May 1884	James Gray Mary Shannon	James Gray Mary Shannon 💍 1884/3749	Widower Widow	Carpenter	47 45	Napier Napier	8 years 7 years	Residence of Revd. H. G. Paterson	84/1301		9 May 1884	Revd. H. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
37	10 May 1884	James Louis Ernest d'Egrille Mary Ann Mitchell	James Louis Ernest d'Egville Michaw Mary Ann Mitchell 💍 1884/2267	Bachelor Spinster	Civil Engineer	28 22	Napier Napier	7 years 11 years	House of C. Robinson, Western Spit	84/1284		10 May 1884	Revd. E. O. Perry, Methodist
38	10 May 1884	Arthur Percival Dixon Margaret Christie	Arthur Percival Dixon Margaret Christie 💍 1884/2259	Bachelor Spinster	Cabinet Maker	25 23	Napier Napier	9 months 2 years	St. Johns Church	84/1296		10 May 1884	Revd. De Berdt Hovell, English Church Minister
39	19 May 1884	Roderick Mackenzie Jessie Miller	Roderick McKenzie Jessie Miller 💍 1884/3746	Bachelor Spinster	Shepherd	44 35	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	Residence of Revd. D. Sidey	84/1293		19 May 1884	Revd. D. Sidey, Presbyterian
40	29 May 1884	Thomas Johnstone Mary Lightfoot Fellowes	Thomas Johnston Mary Lightfoot Fellows 💍 1884/2262	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	22 24	Napier Napier	14 years 6 months	Presbyterian Manse	84/1302		29 May 1884	Revd. H. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
41	16 June 1884	Horace William Gourley Henderson Pauline Friis	Horace William Gourley Henderson Pauline Friis 💍 1884/2260	Bachelor Spinster	Saw Miller	31 21	Napier Napier	3 days 3 days	St. Johns Church	84/1291		16 June 1884	Revd. De Berdt Hovell, English Church
42	17 June 1884	Adam Smith Jane Knock	Adam Smith Jane Knock 💍 1884/3737	Bachelor Spinster	Grocer	31 22	Napier Napier	2 years 10 years	Presbyterian Church	84/1303		17 June 1884	Revd. H. G. Paterson, Presbyterian
43	17 June 1884	Andrew Johnson Isabella Porter	Andrew Johnson Isabella Porter 💍 1884/2257	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	32 25	Napier Napier	4 years 3 weeks	Residence of Revd. D. Sidey	84/1294		17 June 1884	Revd. D. Sidey, Presbyterian
44	21 June 1884	William Alderman Sarah West	William Alderman Sarah West 💍 1884/3745	Bachelor Spinster	Gardener	27 20	Taradale Taradale	3 years 11 years	English Church	84/1290	Robert West, father	21 June 1884	Revd. E. L. Tuke, 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).