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 667

District of Rangiora Quarter ending 30 June 1882 Registrar A. H. Cunningham

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
367	05 April 1882	Joseph Vallence Mary Ann Mclue	Joseph Vallance Mary Annie Milne 💍 1882/1379	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer not any	34 25	Rangiora Rangiora	3 days 25 yrs	Presbyterian Church	82/1271		05 April 1882	Rev. H. Youl
368	18 April 1882	George Love Mary Ellen Hall	George Lowe Mary Ellen Hall 💍 1882/1390	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer not any	24 17	Rangiora Rangiora	4 yrs 1 1/2 yrs	Mr. Halls	82/1281	George Ann Hall, Mother	18 April 1882	Rev. S. Macfarlane
369	19 April 1882	James Thorupin Sarah Ann Ellin	James Thompson Sarah Ann Edlin 💍 1882/1380 James Wylie Sarah Ann Wills 💍 1882/1930 James Grieve Sarah Ann Williamson 💍 1882/2025	Bachelor Spinster	Flax Dresser Dom. Servant	33 18	Rangiora Woodend Rangiora	23 yrs 18 yrs	Dwelling House	82/1272	George Ellin, Father	19 April 1882	Rev. S. S. Gadlick
370	01 May 1882	Charles Stephens Annie Jewell	Charles Stephens Annie Fennell 💍 1882/1383	Bachelor Spinster	Bootmaker not any	29 19	Rangiora Rangiora	20 yrs 5 months	Church of England	82/1275	J. McIndoe, Mother	05 May 1882	Rev. H. W. Dudley
371	08 May 1882	Cornelius Burch Frances Jane Fargie	Cornelius John Birch Frances Jane Fargie 💍 1882/1382	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer not any	24 24	Rangiora Rangiora	3 days 12 days	Wesleyan Church	82/1274		08 May 1882	Rev. John Smith
372	29 May 1882	George Newsum Annie Alice Humphreys	George Newman Annie Alice Humphreys 💍 1882/1388	Bachelor Spinster	Horsebreaker not any	27 19	Rangiora Rangiora	2 months 19 yrs	Wesleyan Church	82/1279	Frank Humphreys, Father	29 May 1882	Rev. John Smith
373	06 June 1882	Thomas Bounds Charlotte Bounse	Thomas Douds Charlotte Bourne 💍 1882/1381	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Dressmaker	25 24	Woodend Rangiora Woodend Rangiora	3 months 8 months	House of George	82/1273		06 June 1882	Rev. J. Gadlick
374	09 June 1882	James Burke J. P. Widower Mary Pauline Hooper Browne	James Hurse Mary Pauline Forfar Browne 💍 1882/1369	Widower Spinster	Farmer not any	40 18	Kaiapoi Southbrook Rangiora	14 yrs 3 yrs	Church of England	82/1287	Father	09 June 1882	Rev. A. B. Watson
375	19 June 1882	George Newble Mary Jane Hear	George Newble Mary Jane Kean 💍 1882/1385	Bachelor Spinster	Groom Domestic Servant	21 21	Rangiora Rangiora	2 1/2 yrs 16 months	Office of Registrar	82/1277		19 June 1882	A. H. Cunningham
376	19 June 1882	Charles George Foder Maria Jane Chambers	Charles George Foster Maria Jane Chambers 💍 1882/1384	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer not any	23 22	Fernside Rangiora Fernside Rangiora	3 yrs 22 yrs	Church of England	82/1276		19 June 1882	Rev. H. W. Dudley
377	24 June 1882	William Costello Eliza Jane Burling	William Costello Eliza Jane Bunting 💍 1882/1378	Bachelor Widow	Farmer not any	38 34	Rangiora Rangiora	3 days 4 days	Roman Catholic Church	82/1270		24 June 1882	Rev. H. Braufield
378	24 June 1882	William Albt Banks Jane McIntyre	William Alexander Banks Jane McIntyre 💍 1882/1377	Bachelor Spinster	Schoolmaster not any	22 21	Ashley Rangiora Fernside Rangiora	3 days 20 yrs	Presbyterian Church	82/1269		24 June 1882	Rev. Richard Youl
379	26 June 1882	George Brickley Annie Miller	George Buckley Annie Maria Miller 💍 1882/1386	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer not any	24 21	Rangiora Rangiora	4 yrs 6 yrs	Office of Registrar	82/1278		26 June 1882	A. H. Cunningham

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 1899. 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).