Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 748

District of [illegible] Quarter ending 31 December 1881

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
403	December	Islue Reid Charlotte Rhodes	John Reid Charlotte Rhodes 💍 1881/3056	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Servant	34 18	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 7 weeks	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	81/3228	William Rhodes, Father	December	28 Rev. C. Fraser 1881 Presbyterian
404	December	Charles Iden Murray Mary		Bachelor Spinster	Barman Servant	35 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 2 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	81/3229		December	28 Rev. C. Fraser 1881 Presbyterian
405	December	Richard Vizer Elenabith Steere	Richard Vizer Elizabeth Steere 💍 1882/640	Bachelor	Wheelwright	24 22	Christchurch Christchurch	16 years 22 years	In the Phillipstown	81/2744		December	28 Rev. C. Gilbert 1881 Church of England
406	December	Edward Augustus Rogers Martha Freeman	Edward Augustus Rogers Martha Freeman 💍 1881/3124	Spinster	Painter	21 19	Sydenham Sydenham	3 Years 3 Months	In the house of J. R. Squires	81/3160	Mary Ann Squires, Mother	December	28 Rev. J. Crewes 1881 Bible Christian
407	December	Arthur Thomas Mary Ann Jones	Arthur Thomas Stokes Mary Ann Jones 💍 1882/1575	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	23 23	Christchurch Christchurch	3 years 5 years	In St Johns Church	81/320		December	29 Rev H. C. M. Watson 1881 Church of England
408	December	George Young Davidson Isabella Shiell		Bachelor Widow	Gardener Teacher	37 40	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 3 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser			December	29 Rev C. Fraser 1881 Presbyterian
409	December	Robert Henry Crocker Rachel Chapman	Robert Henry Crocker Rachel Chapman 💍 1881/3058	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	26 17	Tai Tapu Prebbleton	15 years 17 years	In the House of Rev C. Fraser	81/3230	Samuel Chapman, Father	December	30 Rev C. Fraser 1881 Presbyterian
410	December	William Lawrence Fanny Taylor	William Lawrence Fanny Taylor 💍 1881/2825 William Lamont Mary Taylor 💍 1881/3305 William Moore Sarah Taylor 💍 1882/2051 David Lawrence Annie Taylor 💍 1881/1349 William Morison Maryl Taylor 💍 1881/820	Widower Spinster	Gardener Housekeeper	55 54	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	In the Church of St Luke	81/2826		December	31 Rev. L. C. Lingard 1881 Church of England

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).