Intentions to Marry, 1882

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840394, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 16 2025

Page 337

District of New Plymouth Quarter ending 31 December 1882

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
72	04 October 1882	Edward Burgess Kingdon Katherine Wakefield	Edward Burgess Kingdon Katherine Wakefield 💍 1882/2959	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 32	New Plymouth New Plymouth	3 days 15 years	Barret Road Church	82/2756		04 October 1882	Rev. R. H. Brown Episcopalian
73	13 October 1882	Edward Moore Susan Donnelly	Edward Moore Susannah Donnelly 💍 1882/129	Bachelor Spinster	Contractor	29 19	New Plymouth New Plymouth	6 years 9 months	Roman Catholic	82/2746	Mary Donnelly Mother	13 October 1882	Stephen Clastagnon Roman Catholic
74	04 November 1882	James Siddalls Kidd Alice Mary Swanston	James Siddalls Kidd Alice Mary Swanston 💍 1882/2960	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	25 19	New Plymouth Tataramika New Plymouth	4 years 5 years	Private Residence	82/2757	John Swanston Father	04 November 1882	Rev. H. H. Brown Episcopalian
75	24 November 1882	John Edward Brewster Isabelle Barrington	John Edward Brewster Isabelle Carrington 💍 1882/2975	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Manager	30 26	New Plymouth New Plymouth	3 years 10 years	St Mary Church	82/2749		24 November 1882	Rev Archdeacon Govett Episcopalian
76	15 November 1882	Patrick Minogue Mary Walsh	Patrick Minogue Mary Walsh 💍 1882/2973	Bachelor Spinster	Constable act	23 22	Nga Kumikumu New Plymouth	3 years 1 week	Roman Catholic	82/2747		25 November 1882	Rev Stephen Clastagnon Roman Catholic
77	08 December 1882	James Wells Henrietta Race Patterson	James Wells Henrietta Rose Patterson 💍 1882/2978	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	25 18	New Plymouth New Plymouth	15 years 18 years	Office of Registrar	82/2752	W. M. Burton guardian	18 December 1882	E. Northeroft Deputy Registrar
78	12 December 1882	Benjamin Gray Annie Woodcowekey	Benjamin Gray Annie Woodcowskey 💍 1882/2979	Bachelor Spinster	Constable act	25 18	Okato New Plymouth	25 years 5 years	Office of Registrar	82/2753	Anthony Woodcowekey Father	12 December 1882	E. Northeroft Deputy Registrar
79	18 December 1882	William Hugh Bennett Sarah Hill	William Hugh Bennett Sarah Hill 💍 1882/2957	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	21 21	New Plymouth New Plymouth	9 years 3 years	Office of Registrar	82/2754		18 December 1882	E. Northeroft Deputy Registrar
80	18 December 1882	Robert Henry Garlick Ada Marion Ellis	Robert Henry Garlick Ada Marion Ellis 💍 1882/2958	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer	24 24	Hallingwood Nelson Hallingwood Nelson	25 years 8 years	Office of Registrar	82/2755		18 December 1882	E. Northeroft Deputy Registrar
81	19 December 1882	Walter Bewley Maria Susan Brind	Walter Bewley Marian Susan Brind 💍 1882/2976	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	27 23	New Plymouth New Plymouth	3 days 18 years	St Mary Church	82/2750		19 December 1882	Rev Archdeacon Govett Episcopalian

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 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

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).