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 411

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar Joseph Godfrey Holcusunth

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

3 January 1882

George Henry Palmer
Emma Tare

George Henry Palmer
Emma Tarr
💍 1882/544

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
20

Wellington
Karori

3 days
years

St. Marys

82/294

James Brock, Father

3 January 1882

Rev. W. Ballachey

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Palmer	Emma Tare
BDM Match (94%)	George Henry Palmer	Emma Tarr
	💍 1882/544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Karori
Length of Residence	3 days	years
Marriage Place	St. Marys
Folio	82/294
Consent	James Brock, Father
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ballachey

3 January 1882

James Furniss
Caroline Elizabeth Davies

James Furness
Caroline Elizabeth Davies
💍 1882/548

Bachelor
Spinster

Bottler

21
18

Wellington
"

"
"

St. Marks

82/297

Caroline Guthrie, Mother

3 January 1882

Rev. Richard Coffey

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Furniss	Caroline Elizabeth Davies
BDM Match (96%)	James Furness	Caroline Elizabeth Davies
	💍 1882/548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bottler
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	St. Marks
Folio	82/297
Consent	Caroline Guthrie, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard Coffey

3 January 1882

William Binting
Elizabeth Helena Rooney

William Bunting
Elizabeth Helena Rooney
💍 1882/528

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
28

"
"

St. Andrews

82/320

[illegible]

3 January 1882

Rev. P. Kerrigan

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Binting	Elizabeth Helena Rooney
BDM Match (97%)	William Bunting	Elizabeth Helena Rooney
	💍 1882/528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	St. Andrews
Folio	82/320
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Kerrigan

4 January 1882

James King
Jessie Ross

James King
Jessie Ross
💍 1882/510

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

36
33

"
"

St. John's

82/[illegible]

[illegible]

4 January 1882

Rev. James Patterson

No	4
Date of Notice	4 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James King	Jessie Ross
	💍 1882/510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	St. John's
Folio	82/[illegible]
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	4 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Patterson

4 January 1882

Peter Comfort
Mary Ann Boarden

Peter Cornfoot
Mary Ann Boarden
💍 1882/551

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
21

"
"

Upper Willis St.

82/326

[illegible]

4 January 1882

W. E. Wyatt, Depy.

No	5
Date of Notice	4 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Comfort	Mary Ann Boarden
BDM Match (89%)	Peter Cornfoot	Mary Ann Boarden
	💍 1882/551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	Upper Willis St.
Folio	82/326
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	4 January 1882
Officiating Minister	W. E. Wyatt, Depy.

5 January 1882

Adolph Julius Gerliner
Mary Lyons

Adolph Julius Swanson
Mary Lyons
💍 1882/389

Widower
Spinster

Seaman

49
40

"
"

St. Paul's

82/[illegible]

[illegible]

5 January 1882

Rev. B. C. Harvey

No	6
Date of Notice	5 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Adolph Julius Gerliner	Mary Lyons
BDM Match (82%)	Adolph Julius Swanson	Mary Lyons
	💍 1882/389
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	49	40
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	St. Paul's
Folio	82/[illegible]
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	5 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. C. Harvey

5 January 1882

George Thomas John Barker
Jane Maxwell

George Thomas John Barnes
Jane Maxwell
💍 1882/545

Bachelor
Spinster

Expressman

22
22

"
"

Cathedral

82/1262

[illegible]

5 January 1882

Ven. the Archdeacon Stock

No	7
Date of Notice	5 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas John Barker	Jane Maxwell
BDM Match (96%)	George Thomas John Barnes	Jane Maxwell
	💍 1882/545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Expressman
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	Cathedral
Folio	82/1262
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	5 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Ven. the Archdeacon Stock

7 January 1882

Thomas Howarth
Margaret Annie Maxwell

Thomas Howarth
Margaret Annie Maxwell
💍 1882/552

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
21

"
"

St. Peters

82/1247

[illegible]

7 January 1882

Ven. the Archdeacon Stock

No	8
Date of Notice	7 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Howarth	Margaret Annie Maxwell
	💍 1882/552
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	St. Peters
Folio	82/1247
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	7 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Ven. the Archdeacon Stock

9 January 1882

Edward Suhrmann
Edith Emily Johnston

Edward Fuhrmann Clarke
Edith Emily Johnston
💍 1882/391

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer

24
23

"
"

St. Pauls

82/1248

[illegible]

7 January 1882

Right Rev. Bishop of Wellington

No	9
Date of Notice	9 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Suhrmann	Edith Emily Johnston
BDM Match (82%)	Edward Fuhrmann Clarke	Edith Emily Johnston
	💍 1882/391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	St. Pauls
Folio	82/1248
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	7 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Right Rev. Bishop of Wellington

10 January 1882

Alexander Chisholm
Emma Allen

Alexander Chisholm
Emma Allen
💍 1882/390

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

31
26

"
"

Cathedral

82/1264

[illegible]

9 January 1882

Rev. B. W. Harvey

No	10
Date of Notice	10 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Chisholm	Emma Allen
	💍 1882/390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"	"
Marriage Place	Cathedral
Folio	82/1264
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	9 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Harvey

10 January 1882

William Jupp
Louisa Stephens

William Jupp
Louisa Stephens
💍 1882/295

Bachelor
Spinster

Turner

21
18

"
"

4 days
years

Ripxxx Office

82/305

No Relation in Colony

24 January 1882

W. E. Wyatt, Depy.

No	11
Date of Notice	10 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jupp	Louisa Stephens
	💍 1882/295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turner
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	4 days	years
Marriage Place	Ripxxx Office
Folio	82/305
Consent	No Relation in Colony
Date of Certificate	24 January 1882
Officiating Minister	W. E. Wyatt, Depy.

10 January 1882

John Browther
Martha Johnson

John Crowther
Martha Johnson
💍 1882/284

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

23
21

"
"

Registrar's Office

82/301

[illegible]

10 January 1882

J. G. Holsworth, Regr.

No	12
Date of Notice	10 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Browther	Martha Johnson
BDM Match (96%)	John Crowther	Martha Johnson
	💍 1882/284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	"	"
Length of Residence	"
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	82/301
Consent	[illegible]
Date of Certificate	10 January 1882
Officiating Minister	J. G. Holsworth, Regr.

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).