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 419

District of Wellington 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
79	8 April 1882	Barl Clutty Dean Emma Ada Sanden	Bart Chitty Dean Emma Ada Sanden 💍 1882/1262	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	28 25	Wellington Wellington	1 week 4 days	St. Peters Church	82/1099		8 April 1882	Ven Archdeacon Stock
80	11 April 1882	William Curd Ellen Ralph	William Judd Ellen Ralph 💍 1882/1162	Widower Spinster	Butcher	48 26	Wellington Wellington	14 days 14 days	Registrar's office	82/1099		11 April 1882	J. G. Holdsworth
81	11 April 1882	William Fitz Gerald Frances Marianne Featherston	William Fitzgerald Frances Marianne Featherston 💍 1882/1274	Widower Spinster	Solicitor	28 33	Wellington Wellington	years years	St. Pauls Cathedral	82/1087		11 April 1882	The Bishop of Wellington
82	12 April 1882	Henry Charles Buck Ellen Agnes Grigg	Henry Charles Buck Ellen Agnes Grigg 💍 1882/1257	Bachelor Spinster	Storeman	23 18	Wellington Wellington		House of Clergy, Vivian Street	82/1094	Edward Henderson Grigg, father	12 April 1882	Rev. H. B. Reastone
83	13 April 1882	William Henry Cole Mary Reid	William Henry Cole Mary Reid 💍 1882/1491	Bachelor Spinster	Engine Smith	26 18	Wellington Wellington		St. Andrews Church	82/1080	David Glenn Reid, father	13 April 1882	Rev. G. S. Ogg
84	14 April 1882	Thomas Robert Procter Susannah Maria Taylor	Thomas Robert Procter Susannah Maria Taylor 💍 1882/1275	Bachelor Widow	Jeweller	55 50	Wellington Wellington	2 months 2 months	St. Pauls Cathedral	82/1088		14 April 1882	Rev. E. Nicholls
85	15 April 1882	Charles Pole Martha Jacobs	Charles Pole Martha Jacobs 💍 1882/1264	Bachelor Spinster	Baker	23 21	Wellington Wellington	years	House of Clergy, Sonks off Cuba Street	82/1083		15 April 1882	Rev. James Paterson
86	18 April 1882	James Backhaus Mary Coop Donnelly	James Backhouse Mary Coop Donnelley 💍 1882/1263	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	24 22	Wellington Wellington		St. Peters Church	82/1100		18 April 1882	Ven Archdeacon Stock
87	19 April 1882	William Henry Ballinger Florence Maria Bills	William Henry Ballinger Florence Maud Bills 💍 1882/1260	Bachelor Spinster	Plumber	22 21	Wellington Wellington		House of Clergy, Thorndon, Emakori Road	82/1097		19 April 1882	Rev. W. J. Dean
88	21 April 1882	Arthur Ducat Teresa Minifie	Arthur Dorset Teresa Minifie 💍 1882/1266	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	28 23	Wellington Wellington		St. Peters Church	82/1102		21 April 1882	Ven Archdeacon Stock
89	22 April 1882	Alphonsus Rush Julia Pyke	Alphonsus Rush Julia Pyke 💍 1882/1156	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	24 21	Turla Turla		Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt	82/1106		22 April 1882	Rev. John Lampila
90	24 April 1882	Ewen Cameron Annie Cameron	Angus Cameron Annie Cameron 💍 1882/1271 James Stirling Annie Cameron 💍 1882/1682	Widower Spinster	Matcher	45 25	Dunedin Kawarau		House of Clergy, Alexandria Cameron, Kawarau	82/1084		24 April 1882	Rev. James Paterson

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).