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 369

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 30 June 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
17	05 April 1882	Frederick Moore Maria Baster	Frederick Moore Maria Baxter 💍 1882/1048	Bachelor Widow		27 25	do. Wanganui	7mo. 7mo.	In the residence of [illegible]	82/1043		05 April 1882	Rev. W. J. Williams
18	08 April 1882	Albert Lyford Margaret Falls	Albert Lyford Margaret Kells 💍 1882/1049	Bachelor Spinster	Doctor	[illegible] 10	do. do.	2frs. 18frs.	In the residence of Rev. W. J. Williams		Victoria Cusani authority to give consent	08 April 1882	Rev. W. J. Williams
19	11 April 1882	John Lynch Mary Heffern	John Lynch Mary Hefferman 💍 1882/1080	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter	25 22	do. do.	7 days 7 days	In the Roman Catholic Church, Wanganui	82/1026		11 April 1882	Rev. C. H. Kirk
20	12 April 1882	Frederick Dixon Jones Antoinette Mendouson	Frederick Ireson Jones Antoinette Ellen Thomson 💍 1882/1047	Bachelor Spinster	Stationer	25 23	do. Wanganui	9 mos. 9 mos.	At the residence of William Trimble, Hawera	82/1032		12 April 1882	Rev. James Treadwell
21	13 April 1882	Martin Deegan Ellen Gray	Martin Deegan Ellen Gray 💍 1882/1082	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	27 22	do. do.	3 days 3 days	In the Roman Catholic Church	82/1027		13 April 1882	Rev. C. H. Kirk
22	13 April 1882	Thomas Dawson Margaret Eliza Sitton	Thomas Dawson Margaret Eliza Gibson 💍 1882/1053	Bachelor Widow	Postmaster	71 41	do. do.	1 wk. 1 wk.	Church, Wanganui	82/1028		13 April 1882	Rev. T. L. Tudor
23	17 April 1882	Robert Henry Mason Florence Charlotte Jackson	Robert Henry Mason Florence Charlotte Jackson 💍 1882/1050	Bachelor Spinster	Sheep Farmer	23 19	do. do.	4 days 4 days	In the residence of R. Jackson & G. Jackson			17 April 1882	Rev. W. J. Williams
24	22 April 1882	Tom Roos Margaret McLanson	Tom Rose Margaret McCarrison 💍 1882/1051	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker	27 22	do. do.	3 frs. 3 frs.	In the residence of Rev. W. J. Williams	82/1046		22 April 1882	Rev. W. J. Williams
25	25 April 1882	William Peyhen Margaret McGregor	William Pegden Margaret McGregor 💍 1882/1058 William Fraser Margaret McGregor 💍 1883/539 William Carnwell Mary Jane McGregor 💍 1882/56	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Labourer	23 21	do. do.	5 days 5 days	In the Hibernian Hotel	82/1033		25 April 1882	Rev. James Treadwell
26	26 April 1882	Robert Gallagher Mary Jane Grimes	Robert Callaghan Mary Jane Greener 💍 1882/1063	Bachelor Spinster	Lemonade Maker	22 19	do. do.	4 days 4 days	Wanganui			26 April 1882	Rev. James Treadwell
27	01 May 1882	John McCandlish Mary Ann Hartush	John McCandlish Mary Ann Hartwell 💍 1882/1064	Bachelor Spinster	Farm Servant	26 21	do. do.	3 frs. 3 frs.	In the residence of Mr Whitworth	82/1035		01 May 1882	Rev. James Treadwell
28	09 May 1882	Frederick Purcell Eliza Hart	Frederick Purcell Eliza Hart 💍 1882/3610	Bachelor Spinster	Carter	22 18	do. do.	12 mos. 12 mos.	Marriages, Wanganui			02 May 1882	J. W. Woon

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).