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 431

District of Wellington 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
202	02 October 1882	Walter Stanis Sophea Joussen		Bachelor Spinster	Packer	21 18	Wellington	years	House of Mr. Jackson, Nuttown	82/12861	Lars Joussen, Father	02 October 1882	Rev. Rainsford Bavin
203	02 October 1882	Daniel Sanger Stacey Elizabeth Ann Freye	Daniel Sange Stacy Elizabeth Ann Furze 💍 1882/3474	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	25 39			House of Rev. W. N. West Terrace	82/13497		02 October 1882	Rev. W. N. West, Gangle
204	02 October 1882	Walter Charles Wilson Ellen Phabe Steele	Walter Charles Wilson Ellen Phoebe Steele 💍 1882/2936	Widower Spinster	Settler	42 32			Registrar's office	82/12831		02 October 1882	J. G. Holdsworth, Reg.
205	03 October 1882	Johan Elvas Janson Annie Melles	Johan Edvas Janson Annie Miller 💍 1882/3485	Bachelor Spinster	Culimchhata	38 23		3 months years	House of Mr. Member, Somanake Place	82/13498		03 October 1882	Rev. N. B. Reastone, Minister
206	03 October 1882	Daniel Logan Lucy Ingram	Daniel Logan Lucy Ingram 💍 1882/2939	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	23 17		1 year	Registrar's office	82/12834		15 October 1882	J. G. Holdsworth, Reg.
207	09 October 1882	Jen Backhouse Catherine [illegible] Porter	Tom Backhouse Catherine Mary Porter 💍 1882/2809	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	20 18		years	S. Peters Church	82/12859	John Backhouse & Catherine James Porter, Father	09 October 1882	[illegible] Archdeacon Stock, [illegible]
208	09 October 1882	Johan Gottlieb August Rothe Sophia Anna Christina Rae	Johan Gottlob August Rothe Sophia Maria Christina Rose 💍 1882/2941	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	32 24			Registrar's office	82/12836		09 October 1882	J. G. Holdsworth, Reg.
209	09 October 1882	John Frederick Kuck Lena Sherer	John Frederick Ruch Lena Sherer 💍 1882/2814	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	26 26		3 days	Wesleyan Church	82/12162		09 October 1882	Rev. Rainsford Bavin, Mrs.
210	10 October 1882	Frederick Butler Caroline Clara Kennedy	Frederick Butler Caroline Clara Pamely 💍 1882/2937	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 22		1 week	Registrar's office	82/12832		10 October 1882	J. G. Holdsworth, Reg.
211	11 October 1882	William Miller Lewis Agnes Champels Lyne		Bachelor Spinster	Solicitor	32 23		years	S. Marks Church			11 October 1882	Rev. Richard Coffey, Off.
212	16 October 1882	James H. Connell Annie Dowton	James McConvill Annie Dowlan 💍 1882/2938 James Milne Annie Houston 💍 1882/955	Bachelor Spinster	Driver	29 21		4 months	Registrar's office	82/12833		16 October 1882	J. G. Holdsworth, Reg.
213	17 October 1882	James Grogan Hannah Buckley	James Goggin Hanah Buckley 💍 1882/2951	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	39 23		1 month 3 days	Library of the Angle	82/12523		17 October 1882	Rev. H. Kerrigan, Reg.

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).