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 393

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar J. Wm. Rattle

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

4 January 1882

Michael Roberty
Ann Maria Howe

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

42
17

Feilding
Feilding

1 Week
6 years

Roman Catholic Chapel, Feilding

82/255

[illegible]

4 January 1882

Rev. Delphine Moreau, Roman Catholic Priest

No	98
Date of Notice	4 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Roberty	Ann Maria Howe
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	42	17
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	1 Week	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Chapel, Feilding
Folio	82/255
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	4 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. Delphine Moreau, Roman Catholic Priest

16 January 1882

Henry John William Mason
Margaret Fraser

Henry John William Mason
Margaret Fraser
💍 1882/407

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

[illegible]
26

Feilding
Feilding

5 days
1 year

Registrar's Office, Feilding

82/256

16 January 1882

[illegible] Registrar

No	99
Date of Notice	16 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John William Mason	Margaret Fraser
	💍 1882/407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	[illegible]	26
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Feilding
Folio	82/256
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1882
Officiating Minister	[illegible] Registrar

100

28 February 1882

Alfred Edward
Rosa Kate Toa

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Near Halcombe
Near Halcombe

6 years
4 years

Halcombe

82/252

13 March 1882

Rev. C.C.V. Reaver, [illegible] Minister

No	100
Date of Notice	28 February 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward	Rosa Kate Toa
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Near Halcombe	Near Halcombe
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Halcombe
Folio	82/252
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C.C.V. Reaver, [illegible] Minister

101

13 March 1882

Otto Wischowsky
Amelia Wapp

Otto Wischnovsky
Emilie Wapp
💍 1882/397

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
16

Halcombe
Halcombe

4 years
4 years

Halcombe

82/253

Alberta Wapp (Mother)

2 March 1882

Rev. F. Button & I. Ladle, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	101
Date of Notice	13 March 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Otto Wischowsky	Amelia Wapp
BDM Match (80%)	Otto Wischnovsky	Emilie Wapp
	💍 1882/397
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Halcombe	Halcombe
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Halcombe
Folio	82/253
Consent	Alberta Wapp (Mother)
Date of Certificate	2 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Button & I. Ladle, Primitive Methodist Minister

102

22 March 1882

Arthur Jackson
Smith

Bachelor
Spinster

[illegible]

27
18

Feilding
Feilding

3 days
1 year

[illegible]

82/254

22 March 1882

Rev. F. Button & I. Ladle, Primitive Methodist Minister

No	102
Date of Notice	22 March 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Jackson	Smith
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	[illegible]
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	[illegible]
Folio	82/254
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Button & I. Ladle, Primitive Methodist Minister

103

23 March 1882

Edward Wood
Thomas Gertrude

Edward Wood
Florence Gertrude Stevens
💍 1882/408

Bachelor
Spinster

Stockman

40
18

Feilding
Feilding

5 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Feilding

82/257

William Stevens (facts)

23 March 1882

J. Wm. Rattle, Registrar, Feilding

No	103
Date of Notice	23 March 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Wood	Thomas Gertrude
BDM Match (70%)	Edward Wood	Florence Gertrude Stevens
	💍 1882/408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stockman
Age	40	18
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Feilding
Folio	82/257
Consent	William Stevens (facts)
Date of Certificate	23 March 1882
Officiating Minister	J. Wm. Rattle, Registrar, Feilding

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 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

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).