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 699

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 March 1882 Registrar M M Walkerson

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

348

November

Olsen Paule
Wiberg v May

28
18

14 January 1882

M M Walkerson

No	348
Date of Notice	November
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Olsen Paule	Wiberg v May
Condition
Profession
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1882
Officiating Minister	M M Walkerson

391

December 1881

Celexandra CoCounor
Novem much are Cook

23
19

3 January 1882

M M Walkerson

No	391
Date of Notice	December 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Celexandra CoCounor	Novem much are Cook
Condition
Profession
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	M M Walkerson

400

December 1881

Jane Edwards
ceen bee Charles Henry

20
20

9 January 1882

M M Walkerson

No	400
Date of Notice	December 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jane Edwards	ceen bee Charles Henry
Condition
Profession
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1882
Officiating Minister	M M Walkerson

411

December 1881

Smith &
deovernia Loveless

20
28

21 March 1882

M M Walkerson

No	411
Date of Notice	December 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Smith &	deovernia Loveless
Condition
Profession
Age	20	28
Dwelling Place
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1882
Officiating Minister	M M Walkerson

1 January 1881

Rdward Keeley
anni Walls

Edward Keeley
Annie Walls
💍 1882/596

19
26

Christchurch

4 days

In the House, Southbridge & Rev C. Fraser

82/549

3 January 1882

Rev. C. Fraser

No
Date of Notice	1 January 1881
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rdward Keeley	anni Walls
BDM Match (87%)	Edward Keeley	Annie Walls
	💍 1882/596
Condition
Profession
Age	19	26
Dwelling Place		Christchurch
Length of Residence		4 days
Marriage Place	In the House, Southbridge & Rev C. Fraser
Folio	82/549
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

1 January 1882

David Houston
v Mary

Bachelor
Spinster

Labour
sewart

24
44

Christchurch
Weedon

1 month
18 months

Trease Hael & Rev C. Fraser

82/548

3 January 1882

Rev. C. Fraser

No
Date of Notice	1 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Houston	v Mary
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labour	sewart
Age	24	44
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Weedon
Length of Residence	1 month	18 months
Marriage Place	Trease Hael & Rev C. Fraser
Folio	82/548
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

2 January 1882

Meatilda prawford
Audrew Dawson

speacher
Kachular

Teacher

Christchurch
Christchurch

4 days
10 years

Trease Hall & Rev C. Fraser

82/550

3 January 1882

Rev. C. Fraser

No
Date of Notice	2 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Meatilda prawford	Audrew Dawson
Condition	speacher	Kachular
Profession	Teacher
Age		32
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	4 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Trease Hall & Rev C. Fraser
Folio	82/550
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Fraser

3 January 1882

annie Mu: N.
George Hobbs

sprinthe
Kachelor

Labour

44
35

Christchurch
Christchurch

8 years
3 days

Gram theet & Rev C. Fraser

82/482

3 January 1882

Rev. W.a Pascoe

No
Date of Notice	3 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	annie Mu: N.	George Hobbs
Condition	sprinthe	Kachelor
Profession		Labour
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Christchurch
Length of Residence	8 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Gram theet & Rev C. Fraser
Folio	82/482
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.a Pascoe

4 January 1882

Alice Rade
Richard Wually

Widow
widever

Housekeeper
Runhelder

36
21

Clustelunch
acouside

3 days
10 years

letter hally Coleridge

82/482

3 January 1882

Rev w.a Pascoe

No
Date of Notice	4 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alice Rade	Richard Wually
Condition	Widow	widever
Profession	Housekeeper	Runhelder
Age	36	21
Dwelling Place	Clustelunch	acouside
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	letter hally Coleridge
Folio	82/482
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister	Rev w.a Pascoe

3 January 1882

Cotton Henritte
Ellen Kesnie Heumal

spinder

Teacher

acouside
Clearch

3 January 1882

No
Date of Notice	3 January 1882
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cotton Henritte	Ellen Kesnie Heumal
Condition	spinder
Profession	Teacher
Age
Dwelling Place	acouside	Clearch
Length of Residence
Marriage Place
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1882
Officiating Minister

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).